 |
| 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.
Summer of the Swans (1971 medalist) by Betsy Byars is the story of Sara, a young, angst-filled teenager, who lives with her brain-damaged younger brother, Charlie, her older sister, Wanda, and her Aunt Willie. In the midst of a difficult summer in which Sara struggles with her self-confidence and indeed, her sense of self, she learns, through Charlie’s disappearance, the importance and true measure of love, family, and self. Contemporary fiction at the time of printing, this book mentions “operator-assisted” phone calls and contains references to Gentle Ben, The Jolly Green Giant and Green Acres. (When I once asked a young colleague if she knew these icons of the 60s and 70s, she assumed that they were books!) But yet, this book still resonates with young readers and shows up on required summer reading lists, which poses an interesting question: When does realistic fiction become historical fiction?
When in elementary school, my son was told to choose a Newbery winner from the school library for a book report. When he complained about his chosen book, Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson (1945 medalist) and told me that it was unlike the books he usually read, I decided to read it for myself. I was surprised by two things - first, was the book’s blatant racial insensitivity towards African Americans. 
The second was the book’s pronounced religiosity - it being an unabashed homage to Saint Francis. Researching and discussing further, I discovered two things. While, sadly, my son’s school library is still loaning a 1966 edition, copies of the book printed after 1970, have had the offensive parts removed. (Of course, this opens up another series of questions that will have to wait for another time) The second thing I discovered in speaking with a colleague who remembered the book fondly from her own youth, is that children do not read with the same eyes as adults. What is a blatant display of some ism or other to a librarian, may pass unnoticed by a child. I, myself, was surprised when I re-read A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (1963 medalist). As I child, did I realize that Mrs. Who was quoting from 1 Corinthians? No, I’m sure I did not.
So what exactly is “staying power,” and how do we measure it? I began my blog, Shelf-employed in 2008. Early in that year, I posted a review that I had written in grad school of Christopher Paul Curtis’ 1996 Newbery Honor book, The Watsons go to Birmingham: 1963. To date, that single post has had more viewers than anything I’ve ever posted before or since. A wonderful book, however, I wonder... is the post’s popularity due to the fact that kids are desperately seeking answers to school assignments? Does the fact that a particular book pops up in school assignments and reading lists year after year make it a good book? Or does it mean that no one has changed the list or the homework in years? 
