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Re: How much do we tell?
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From: Visser-Knoth, Maeve <visser-knoth_at_smcl.org>
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2011 18:12:09 +0000
For me, one aspect of this discussion about how much of the complicated wor ld we should share with children is also the question of responsibility. So me books raise tough issues and offer simplistic solutions. Others hand res ponsibility for tough issues to the child reader. Global warming books are particular offenders here. I believe that children need to know that we hav e serious challenges ahead and that their actions make a difference, but th at their actions alone will not solve the problem! I can compost and carpoo l and dry my clothes on the line, and vote according to my conscious, but I alone can not fix the problem. How do we, through literature, inspire chil dren, and empower them, without dumping too much on them?
I remember a book from the 1980's titled "Peace Begins With You" by Katheri ne Scholes. Peace is a very complicated idea. I can be nice to everyone in the playground and in my home but it will have not have any effect whatsoev er on the situation between Palestine and Israel. I don't want to let kids off the hook, but I do not want books to introduce terrifying topics and pl ace the responsibility for "fixing" things on the child reader.
There must be a balance and certainly novels have more space to develop top ics of, for example, war and peace, than picture books.
-Maeve
Maeve Visser Knoth Youth Services Librarian Atherton Library 2 Dinkelspiel Stations Lane Atherton, Ca 94027 650-328-2422
________________________________________
From: CCBC Network digest
Sent: Saturday, November 19, 2011 10:08 PM To: ccbc-net digest recipients Subject: ccbc-net digest: November 19, 2011
CCBC-NET Digest for Saturday, November 19, 2011.
1. Re: How much...? 2. RE: DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC 3. Re: How much...? 4. Re: DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC 5. Books about cancer 6. How Much Do We Tell the Children 7. Re: DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC 8. Re: How Much Do We Tell the Children? 9. Re: How much...? 10. "How much...." 11. YA book related to cancer 12. RE: How =?UTF-8?Q?much=2E=2E=2E=3F?13. How much...? 14. CANCER 15. RE: How =?UTF-8?Q?much=2E=2E=2E=3F?16. RE: CANCER
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Subject: Re: How much...? From: maggie_bo_at_comcast.net Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2011 13:38:27 +0000 (UTC) X-Message-Number: 1
Grace Oliff writes, regarding Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic:
"There is no suggestion that this was "all a dream"- in the tradition of ti me travel fantasy, she has actually made this journey, actually experienced this- and she returns to the present having experienced the necessary epip hany. Of course people did not wake up from the Nazi experience- but this b ook was about trying to explain that experience to a generation that thankf ully did not have to live through it, and was often confused by the fact th at those who had were reluctant to speak."
I agree. I don't think Hannah/Chaya's experience comes off as a dream at al l--it is a time travel experience, and the message of the book is the impor tance of remembering. There is no sense of unreality--in fact, the whole po int of the novel is to show that the holocaust was real, did happen, and sh ould not be forgotten, and I believe it does that as effectively as any hol ocaust novel for children. In addition, Yolen's book is a departure from th e many holocaust novels written from the point of view of Christians saving Jews. For that reason too, it is a particularly noteworthy and important b ook, and one I highly recommend to my middle school students.
Maggie Bokelman Librarian Eagle View Middle School Mechanicsburg, PA
----- Original Message -----
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Subject: RE: DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC From: Lbhcove_at_aol.com Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2011 11:34:52 -0500 (EST) X-Message-Number: 2
For the record, THE DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC was not a Newbery Honor Book.
Lee Bennett Hopkins
Visit my site at: www.leebennetthopkins.com
In a message dated 11/18/2011 8:14:13 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, grace_1335_at_yahoo.com writes:
I must respectfully say that this is not a fair reading of Jane Yolen's Newbery Honor, "The Devil's Arithmetic." In this very sensitively written book, the young protagonist is resentful of her family's traditions, has n o awareness of what they have experienced. When she is transported back in time, she comes to understand why they feel and act the way they do. There is no suggestion that this was "all a dream"- in the tradition of time travel fantasy, she has actually made this journey, actually experienced this- and she returns to the present having experienced the necessary epiphany. Of course people did not wake up from the Nazi experience- but this book was about trying to explain that experience to a generation that thankfully di d not have to live through it, and was often confused by the fact that those who had were reluctant to speak. I do believe this book would have gotten Newbery gold - but that year, Lois Lowry's "Number the Stars"- another Holocaust novel- trumped it.
Grace Oliff, Librarian Ann Blanche Smith E.S 1000 Hillsdale Ave. Hillsdale, N.J. 07642 Library Web Page- http://home.earthlink.net/~david916 Part time Lecturer, Children's and Young Adult Literature Rutgers SCILS William Paterson University
____________________________________
From: Ruth I. Gordon To: CCBC Net Sent: Friday, November 18, 2011 5:46 PM Subject:
How much...?
Concerning Claudia Pearson's note about truth-telling and the Holocaust; I remind readers of Jane Yolen's book of several years ago in which the girl wakes up from a Holocaust "dream" experience. So...none of it happened-right? Unfair and untruthful and a mean trick.
Ms Yolen should have known very well that people did not wake up from the Nazi experience. And her editor_, publisher and reviewers should also have realized it.
Ruth Gordon, MLS, Ph.D. Sonoma Valley, CA (Big Grandma)
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2011 18:12:09 +0000
For me, one aspect of this discussion about how much of the complicated wor ld we should share with children is also the question of responsibility. So me books raise tough issues and offer simplistic solutions. Others hand res ponsibility for tough issues to the child reader. Global warming books are particular offenders here. I believe that children need to know that we hav e serious challenges ahead and that their actions make a difference, but th at their actions alone will not solve the problem! I can compost and carpoo l and dry my clothes on the line, and vote according to my conscious, but I alone can not fix the problem. How do we, through literature, inspire chil dren, and empower them, without dumping too much on them?
I remember a book from the 1980's titled "Peace Begins With You" by Katheri ne Scholes. Peace is a very complicated idea. I can be nice to everyone in the playground and in my home but it will have not have any effect whatsoev er on the situation between Palestine and Israel. I don't want to let kids off the hook, but I do not want books to introduce terrifying topics and pl ace the responsibility for "fixing" things on the child reader.
There must be a balance and certainly novels have more space to develop top ics of, for example, war and peace, than picture books.
-Maeve
Maeve Visser Knoth Youth Services Librarian Atherton Library 2 Dinkelspiel Stations Lane Atherton, Ca 94027 650-328-2422
________________________________________
From: CCBC Network digest
Sent: Saturday, November 19, 2011 10:08 PM To: ccbc-net digest recipients Subject: ccbc-net digest: November 19, 2011
CCBC-NET Digest for Saturday, November 19, 2011.
1. Re: How much...? 2. RE: DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC 3. Re: How much...? 4. Re: DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC 5. Books about cancer 6. How Much Do We Tell the Children 7. Re: DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC 8. Re: How Much Do We Tell the Children? 9. Re: How much...? 10. "How much...." 11. YA book related to cancer 12. RE: How =?UTF-8?Q?much=2E=2E=2E=3F?13. How much...? 14. CANCER 15. RE: How =?UTF-8?Q?much=2E=2E=2E=3F?16. RE: CANCER
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: How much...? From: maggie_bo_at_comcast.net Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2011 13:38:27 +0000 (UTC) X-Message-Number: 1
Grace Oliff writes, regarding Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic:
"There is no suggestion that this was "all a dream"- in the tradition of ti me travel fantasy, she has actually made this journey, actually experienced this- and she returns to the present having experienced the necessary epip hany. Of course people did not wake up from the Nazi experience- but this b ook was about trying to explain that experience to a generation that thankf ully did not have to live through it, and was often confused by the fact th at those who had were reluctant to speak."
I agree. I don't think Hannah/Chaya's experience comes off as a dream at al l--it is a time travel experience, and the message of the book is the impor tance of remembering. There is no sense of unreality--in fact, the whole po int of the novel is to show that the holocaust was real, did happen, and sh ould not be forgotten, and I believe it does that as effectively as any hol ocaust novel for children. In addition, Yolen's book is a departure from th e many holocaust novels written from the point of view of Christians saving Jews. For that reason too, it is a particularly noteworthy and important b ook, and one I highly recommend to my middle school students.
Maggie Bokelman Librarian Eagle View Middle School Mechanicsburg, PA
----- Original Message -----
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: RE: DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC From: Lbhcove_at_aol.com Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2011 11:34:52 -0500 (EST) X-Message-Number: 2
For the record, THE DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC was not a Newbery Honor Book.
Lee Bennett Hopkins
Visit my site at: www.leebennetthopkins.com
In a message dated 11/18/2011 8:14:13 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, grace_1335_at_yahoo.com writes:
I must respectfully say that this is not a fair reading of Jane Yolen's Newbery Honor, "The Devil's Arithmetic." In this very sensitively written book, the young protagonist is resentful of her family's traditions, has n o awareness of what they have experienced. When she is transported back in time, she comes to understand why they feel and act the way they do. There is no suggestion that this was "all a dream"- in the tradition of time travel fantasy, she has actually made this journey, actually experienced this- and she returns to the present having experienced the necessary epiphany. Of course people did not wake up from the Nazi experience- but this book was about trying to explain that experience to a generation that thankfully di d not have to live through it, and was often confused by the fact that those who had were reluctant to speak. I do believe this book would have gotten Newbery gold - but that year, Lois Lowry's "Number the Stars"- another Holocaust novel- trumped it.
Grace Oliff, Librarian Ann Blanche Smith E.S 1000 Hillsdale Ave. Hillsdale, N.J. 07642 Library Web Page- http://home.earthlink.net/~david916 Part time Lecturer, Children's and Young Adult Literature Rutgers SCILS William Paterson University
____________________________________
From: Ruth I. Gordon To: CCBC Net Sent: Friday, November 18, 2011 5:46 PM Subject:
How much...?
Concerning Claudia Pearson's note about truth-telling and the Holocaust; I remind readers of Jane Yolen's book of several years ago in which the girl wakes up from a Holocaust "dream" experience. So...none of it happened-right? Unfair and untruthful and a mean trick.
Ms Yolen should have known very well that people did not wake up from the Nazi experience. And her editor_, publisher and reviewers should also have realized it.
Ruth Gordon, MLS, Ph.D. Sonoma Valley, CA (Big Grandma)
---Received on Mon 21 Nov 2011 06:12:09 PM CST
