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| Photographer: Nitric Flog Fish,Title: Loch Laggan,,Taken on: April 22, 2006 |
Before I get started I have a couple of questions for you all. Does how you feel about
A Wrinkle in Time affect your reaction to
When You Reach Me?
I made a snap decision to write about these books when we were sitting around trying to decide what we were going to cover here, but I'll admit it has been years since I've read either.
No book has been more hotly contested at the kid lit discussions I attend than When You Reach Me. Some love the book - plot, setting, characters. Others take issue with the mechanics of time travel as they play out. And it keeps coming up.
Fuse 8 has been debating its longevity, but unlike Lisa, that's not an issue that I'm particularly concerned with. It is of note that
When You Reach Me is on her current poll at
#11. and
A Wrinkle in Time will most likely fall in the top 5, I'm guessing #1. Clearly, these are books that people feel strongly about.
Reflecting on the conversations that we keep having about this book they are excellent reminders of things I'm learning about reading for more than my enjoyment. It's all about knowing yourself as a reader. Know your bias and your deal breakers. What are you predisposed to love? For me it is fantasy, SF, and time travel. (I blame
A Wrinkle in Time, by the way.) On the other hand, I'm also predisposed to hate such heavy handed religiosity, and in some books that might be a deal breaker for me.
So, yes I was prepared to love
When You Reach Me, but it also does plot, characters, and setting so well that I can forgive it breaking the rules of time travel. Likewise,
A Wrinkle in Time is such a distinguished book that I can forgive it's religion.
Do you just not get fantasy and/or SF? For me it's mysteries. A mystery has to be an over the top amazing book for me to enjoy it, but I'll take hackneyed SF any day. Oh, and I hate talking animals. Yet there's a talking animal book on our list right now that I might advocate for.
Reading is mostly a solitary pursuit, and yet we turn it into this wonderful community activity. As I read I have to remind myself I'm not always reading purely for my own enjoyment, but for that of the children and families I serve.
And sometimes I'm selfishly reading just so I can join the conversation. I'm just learning how to better prepare myself for those conversations.
I make it a point to read all types of children's books, for the very reason you mention. Sometimes it's a forced activity - slogging through a book that I have no interest in reading; sometimes I'm delightfully surprised. Either way, the kids who visit my branch are pleased when I can recommend something in their favorite genre - and that's what matters most. And for the record, I prefer When You Reach Me to A Wrinkle in Time, but may have felt differently if I had read them both as a child.
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