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the missing issue
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From: sully_at_sully-writer.com
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2010 09:18:49 -0700
Two of the most popular titles at my middle school library were Ba ttle Rattle: The Stuff a Soldier Carries (Zenith, 2006) and W arriors: A Visual History of the Fighting Man (DK, 2007). Neither book was published specifically for young adults, but both were completely accessible. Books about weaponry and wars were always in high demand. I ne ver had a chance to pursue this, but I always thought the military titles p ublished by Osprey about battles, soldiers and weapons would be very popula r in YA collections.
I loved to read about war when I was a kid and I still do as an adult. I'm a pacifist but those books still fascinate me. I don't know what it is about them. I guess it's a "guy thing."
Edward T. Sullivan, Rogue Librarian Author, The Ultimate Weapon : The Race to Develop the Atomic Bomb (Holiday House, 2007) Vi sit my web site, http://www.sully-w riter.com Visit my blog, Rogue Librarian: All About Books and Readin g http://sullywriter.wordpress .com Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/sullywriter
AMILY: verdana; COLOR: black; MARGIN-LEFT: 8px; FONT-SIZE: 10pt" id=reply
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re:
the missing issue From: bookmarch_at_aol.com Date: Thu, October 14, 2010 10:35 am To: maggie_bo_at_comcast.net Cc: ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu , csteward@aclibrary.org , gholch@nyc.rr.com
In talking about nonfiction and popularity there is one topic that I t hink we've danced around. Last month in the Professional Responsibility str and one person posted about her experience of subscribing to a magazin e that her 10 year olds liked, that was thoughtful, well done, serious, res ponsible, but which was about guns and hunting, and so distressed her peers . In my experience going to schools one of the most popular areas on nonfic tion has to do with war -- weapons certainly, but also -- and often in the most serious, students who are deeply engaged in their own research -- stra tegies, tactics, generals, famous battles. This runs from the elementary sc hool kids intrested in Vikings through the High School kids reading adult b ooks on specific battles and regiments. I suspect that we as a profess ion do not value that set of interests as highly as we do, say, kids drawn to fantasy novels or "realistic" fiction. In other words, is part of the is sue what we are willing to credit as a for m of passionate reading, not just whether young people are in fact impassioned readers.
How many libraries have a Books About Battles club -- versus how many libraries have a Novel Reading club? I am willing to bet that if a library had a Books About Battles club -- complete with maps, military atlases, bio s, perhaps war games software, books with lists of the kinds of ammunition, or planes, or tanks, or swords employed it would it would be wildly popula r -- and filled with kids who would not otherwise be in a Teen Reading Grou p.
Am I wrong?
Marc Aronson
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2010 09:18:49 -0700
Two of the most popular titles at my middle school library were Ba ttle Rattle: The Stuff a Soldier Carries (Zenith, 2006) and W arriors: A Visual History of the Fighting Man (DK, 2007). Neither book was published specifically for young adults, but both were completely accessible. Books about weaponry and wars were always in high demand. I ne ver had a chance to pursue this, but I always thought the military titles p ublished by Osprey about battles, soldiers and weapons would be very popula r in YA collections.
I loved to read about war when I was a kid and I still do as an adult. I'm a pacifist but those books still fascinate me. I don't know what it is about them. I guess it's a "guy thing."
Edward T. Sullivan, Rogue Librarian Author, The Ultimate Weapon : The Race to Develop the Atomic Bomb (Holiday House, 2007) Vi sit my web site, http://www.sully-w riter.com Visit my blog, Rogue Librarian: All About Books and Readin g http://sullywriter.wordpress .com Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/sullywriter
AMILY: verdana; COLOR: black; MARGIN-LEFT: 8px; FONT-SIZE: 10pt" id=reply
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re:
the missing issue From: bookmarch_at_aol.com Date: Thu, October 14, 2010 10:35 am To: maggie_bo_at_comcast.net Cc: ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu , csteward@aclibrary.org , gholch@nyc.rr.com
In talking about nonfiction and popularity there is one topic that I t hink we've danced around. Last month in the Professional Responsibility str and one person posted about her experience of subscribing to a magazin e that her 10 year olds liked, that was thoughtful, well done, serious, res ponsible, but which was about guns and hunting, and so distressed her peers . In my experience going to schools one of the most popular areas on nonfic tion has to do with war -- weapons certainly, but also -- and often in the most serious, students who are deeply engaged in their own research -- stra tegies, tactics, generals, famous battles. This runs from the elementary sc hool kids intrested in Vikings through the High School kids reading adult b ooks on specific battles and regiments. I suspect that we as a profess ion do not value that set of interests as highly as we do, say, kids drawn to fantasy novels or "realistic" fiction. In other words, is part of the is sue what we are willing to credit as a for m of passionate reading, not just whether young people are in fact impassioned readers.
How many libraries have a Books About Battles club -- versus how many libraries have a Novel Reading club? I am willing to bet that if a library had a Books About Battles club -- complete with maps, military atlases, bio s, perhaps war games software, books with lists of the kinds of ammunition, or planes, or tanks, or swords employed it would it would be wildly popula r -- and filled with kids who would not otherwise be in a Teen Reading Grou p.
Am I wrong?
Marc Aronson
---Received on Thu 14 Oct 2010 09:18:49 AM CDT
