Reading Ravenously

I want to thank Tara Hudson for turning my daughter into a reader. In early June, Tara came to our local SCBWI group and gave a talk about how she became an author. I bought the first book in her trilogy--Hereafter. Simply put, it's a YA ghost story.

 

 

I came home from the meeting and handed the book to my 12-year old daughter and said, "I thought you might enjoy this." Never expecting her to read it because she has never enjoyed reading the books that I enjoy--the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson books leap to mind.

 

She started reading it that night.

 

Within days, we were at the local Barnes & Noble trying to find Arise and Elegy. Only after asking a clerk for help were we able to find both books. (B & N's setup for YA is TOTALLY WHACK-A-DOODLE! Books aren't jus separated as New and old YA, but by subgenre, too. Very difficult to figure out where a book is located!)

 

And then, she went to a couple of camps, and stopped reading Arise.

 

I was slightly miffed, considering the hassle and money I spent on the two books (Elegy is hardbound). And told her three days ago, "No TV. I want you to read for an hour."

 

Two hours later, she was still reading.

 

She went to swim practice for almost two hours, came home, got in her jammies and started reading again.

 

We made her turn out the light at 10 PM.

 

The next morning, she told me she wanted to finish Arise . . . she was up reading until 2 AM.

 

Then she started reading Elegy . . . same thing happened . . . she kept reading and reading, and reading. Last night she was still reading at 10:30 when I went to sleep. She wanted to finish the book.

 

I think I might have created a reading monster.

 

I'm okay with that.

 

But that means I better finish City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, because I have a feeling the book will be swiped from my hands sometime today!

 

There might be another Sam's Club run this weekend to by the other books in the series. Can't beat a price of $ 8.99.

 

Well, I better finish reading because I still have the last 1/4 of the book to read.

 

Later, Peeps! 

Young Readers ARE Subjective

A few days ago, one of my writerly-type friends posted a note on FB that Parent & Child magazine listed the top 100 Greatest Books for Kids, and she wondered what others thought about it. She didn't like the idea that they called it the "GREATEST" books for Kids.

And I happen to agree.

Greatest books in whose opinion? Teachers? Librarians? Editors? Parents? Because you know they didn't ask the kids! Many of those books are read by kids because their teachers/parents force them to read them.

The greatest books tag needs to be changed to Most Popular or Biggest Moneymaker or Whatever, but not greatest.

Look at the dance show that used to be called, America's Best Dancer. They changed the name to America's FAVORITE Dancer because the best dancer doesn't always win. They might be technically adept, but if they don't have much of a personality or the ability to convey the emotions of the dance, or whatever, then the voters won't vote for them.

Again, it's subjective.

Which was my comment: Even at a very young age, children are subjective readers. What one kid likes another kid doesn't.

I loved reading the Froggy books to my daughter. She listened to them, but they weren't her favorites. THE SLEEP BOOK was, and still is, one of her favorites. I bought a dragon book for her three years ago called, THE FIRE WITHIN. I loved the book, but I couldn't get her to read past the first few pages. Now, she's devouring the series.

I love Harry Potter. She refuses to read them.

I love the Percy Jackson books. She refuses to read them.

It might be a readiness and ability to read a particular book, but if a child is interested, they will read. The key as a parent is to give them the ability to CHOOSE the books they want to read. And yes, I firmly believe this subjectivity starts at a very young age.

Fantasy stories have always talked to me. I understood them, but when my brother gave me THE HOBBIT when I was 12, I wasn't ready to read that particular book. Two years later, I read THE HOBBIT and the rest of the Lord of the Rings trilogy within weeks . . . and then read them again and again.

My sister, a double Masters, teacher/librarian for 35+ years, refused to read the Harry Potter books. I still don't know if she's read them. All I know is that she hasn't read my stuff. :-P She didn't like the "abuse" Harry suffered when he lived in the cupboard under the stairs. Actually, I find comfort in small places--kind of like swaddling an infant--it conveys the feeling of security.

I think she missed a huge opportunity by her stubbornness--

because when an author writes a series of books that manages to get a WHOLE GENERATION ALL OVER THE WORLD TO START READING, then that's a really, really good thing.

God Bless, J. K. Rowling!

Anyway, the whole purpose of this blog is to let kids read what they want to read. Who cares what they read as long as they are reading . . . within reason, of course, you don't want a 10-year-old reading racy romances, do you? You do have to play the parent, yanno. And, yes, I know I have blog readers who cut their teeth on romances, but back then they didn't have quite the same level of heat. . . unless you read Rosemary Rogers, but that's another blog topic!

Reading is wonderful. I just don't want someone to tell me that because I haven't read a particular book (trust me, there are TONS of "classics" that I haven't read) it makes me less educated or well-read.

Many people read to be educated. While others feel they need to broaden their minds. While others will only read non-fiction. Or others read only classics. Or . . .  (supply your reason here)

I read for enjoyment and escapism.

What do your read, and why?

Percy Jackson vs. The Ranger's Apprentice

Right before my ski vacation, I started re-reading the Percy Jackson (PJ) books by Rick Riordan.  I didn't plan to read them because I was right in the middle of another series, The Ranger's Apprentice (RA) by John Flanagan.  But what I found interesting was how the PJ books sucked me in and MADE me want to read them all over again.

Now this isn't to say that the RA books are not as good--they are--but it started me thinking about a writer's voice and style.

Riordan writes PJ in first person and he's an American, while Flanagan writes in third person and he's Australian.

You might not think their nationalities matter, but really it does BECAUSE this is the essence of who they are as people, how they are raised and taught.  In other words, who you are helps dictate your writing voice and style . . .  up to a point.

And in my opinion, Riordan's PJ books are the most engaging reads.  They are full of action, full of fun, huge amounts of dialogue, AND full of Greek Mythology that isn't rubbed in your face.  The things Riordan teaches the reader is so passive, and woven into the story, that the reader doesn't even realize he's learning anything.

This isn't to say that Flanagan's RA is bad, the books are just different.  He tends to write more narrative with detailed descriptions of various aspects of his story.  For example: archery.  Flanagan goes into great detail about the long bow, arrows, how to shoot, how to line up a shot, how to account for wind and distance, etc.  He doesn't do this in one lump info dump, but spreads it throughout the story. In other words, the reader KNOWS Flanagan is either a superior archer or he's very well read about the sport.

But as we all know, not every author is interesting to every person.  Stories that excite me, other readers might find boring.

The best we strive for is to write in OUR own style and voice.  Sometimes we hit it out of the park.  Sometimes we struggle.  But we ALWAYS strive to make our stories an entertaining escape.

Something to think about.
Later, Peeps!