From: Ryan, Pat <PRyan_at_aclibrary.org>
Date: Mon, 09 Aug 2010 12:24:15 -0700

I was going to edit the following just for shortness, definitely not clarit y, but I didn't find anything I wanted to cut. Sally, I think your message came through very clearly and understandably - and with optimism! Patricia Ryan Children's Librarian Union City Library 510-745-1464 ext. 19

I’m sending this on behalf of Sally Derby, who’s having technical diffi culties….

What a fascinating discussion. I want to thank Lynn for persisting in her effort to state her point clearly and cogently. I have held my own opinion since I read Lynn's first post, but I have hesitated to express it. What I hear is that Lynn and the teenagers who have talked to her are hoping for a certain optimism to underlie the plot of the sci-fi book they are reading. They aren't happy just to have some humor diluting the basic premise of the book which often seems to be that our civilization has so messed up the earth that only disaster lies ahead. You and I may believe that, but even the most cynical of teenagers doesn't want to believe it. Optimism should be an inalienable right of youth. They should be able to believe in happy endings. And it's not enough to have the book offer a happy ending to a few struggling survivors of the world they know after the book has made it clear that the world they know is doomed. I'd say that currently optimism is an endangered --what? emotion? outlook? philosophy? wh at word am I searching for here? Let me settle for saying that currently optimism is endangered. In the face of the cynicism, disillusion, distrust and paranoia swirling through both the marketplace and the media, we tend to distrust optimism as no more than whistling in the dark. And so we are a little wary of writing, publishing, or reviewing books that refuse to dwell on the potential disasters awaiting us, lest we seem naive, uninformed, or superficial in our treatment. We hesitate even when we write for young people, and that is sad, in my opinion. Certainly, there is a place on library shelves for books portraying dystopias, but shouldn't some of us be writing, if not about Utopias, at least about a future in which our poor old planet continues to struggle along as it always has, coping with and surviving all sorts of disasters, even the ones we've brought on ourselves? Okay, I think that's what I think, but it's late in the day for me to be thinking at all, and my ability to think cogently is not some thing I've ever prided myself on. If anyone out there catches my drift and can explain it more persuasively, I'd be grateful. I'm looking forward to more discussion of this subject. Sally Derby (who should maybe stick to writing picture books.)
Received on Mon 09 Aug 2010 12:24:15 PM CDT