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Re: Narrative and Information -- Frosted Flakes
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From: bookmarch_at_aol.com
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2012 08:38:08 -0400 (EDT)
I have always argued that middle grade and YA NF were the Frosted Flakes of the library -- the secret treat adults ate at night when no one was lookin g; that is, an adult might prefer the concision, engaging text, and thought ful design of a book for younger readers, but would not want to be seen rea ding that, instead of the current adult tome on the same subject.
To go back to Megan's question -- in my last post I mentioned the strategie s of the YA novel, for example the dual narrators. Well if you look at Cand y Fleming's Amelia Lost, or, in another sense, Russell Freedman's The Voice That Challenged a Nation, each of them have dualing narratives -- in Candy 's case two different time periods, in Russell's music and racism. The "unr eliable narrator" might seem at odds with nonfiction, but in Kadir Nelson's We Are the Ship, the voice of the book is that of the Negro Leagues -- it is self interested and self assertive, it is not the magisterial voice over of authority but the interested passion of the player.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, from 5th grade up the Common Core asks r eaders to become aware that all nonfiction has a point of view -- which is NOT, NOT, NOT to say that "it is all relative" and "there is no such thing as objectivity." Rather students are to compare and contrast to evaluate ev idence. Thus, to respond to Megan, more and more NF in these ages is likely to have a strong POV -- which is wonderful. The more voice, passion, and c onviction in our books -- I think of Ellen Levine and Milton Meltzer in thi s context -- the better.
So, narrative strategies: use of multiple voices; unreliable or at least pe rsonal narrator; POV; passion; moral fire -- all of these are available to us as we write for middle grade and HS readers. There is no reason why the subject alone needs to carry the day.
And so I ask all of you a question: how often are students in your school o r library assigned to do an "author study"? How often are they allowed (enc ouraged) to select an author of nonfiction? NF books have authors, and we h ave as much room for individuality and creativity as any novelist, poet, or playwright. The more students recognize that, the more models they have fo r ways to think and write in their own research work.
Marc Aronson
Received on Fri 16 Mar 2012 08:38:08 AM CDT
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2012 08:38:08 -0400 (EDT)
I have always argued that middle grade and YA NF were the Frosted Flakes of the library -- the secret treat adults ate at night when no one was lookin g; that is, an adult might prefer the concision, engaging text, and thought ful design of a book for younger readers, but would not want to be seen rea ding that, instead of the current adult tome on the same subject.
To go back to Megan's question -- in my last post I mentioned the strategie s of the YA novel, for example the dual narrators. Well if you look at Cand y Fleming's Amelia Lost, or, in another sense, Russell Freedman's The Voice That Challenged a Nation, each of them have dualing narratives -- in Candy 's case two different time periods, in Russell's music and racism. The "unr eliable narrator" might seem at odds with nonfiction, but in Kadir Nelson's We Are the Ship, the voice of the book is that of the Negro Leagues -- it is self interested and self assertive, it is not the magisterial voice over of authority but the interested passion of the player.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, from 5th grade up the Common Core asks r eaders to become aware that all nonfiction has a point of view -- which is NOT, NOT, NOT to say that "it is all relative" and "there is no such thing as objectivity." Rather students are to compare and contrast to evaluate ev idence. Thus, to respond to Megan, more and more NF in these ages is likely to have a strong POV -- which is wonderful. The more voice, passion, and c onviction in our books -- I think of Ellen Levine and Milton Meltzer in thi s context -- the better.
So, narrative strategies: use of multiple voices; unreliable or at least pe rsonal narrator; POV; passion; moral fire -- all of these are available to us as we write for middle grade and HS readers. There is no reason why the subject alone needs to carry the day.
And so I ask all of you a question: how often are students in your school o r library assigned to do an "author study"? How often are they allowed (enc ouraged) to select an author of nonfiction? NF books have authors, and we h ave as much room for individuality and creativity as any novelist, poet, or playwright. The more students recognize that, the more models they have fo r ways to think and write in their own research work.
Marc Aronson
Received on Fri 16 Mar 2012 08:38:08 AM CDT
