I'm curious as to whether anyone has been reading the “Building a Bookworm” summer reading series at Salon.com. So far they've covered five topics: books for girls, books for boys, globally aware books, grown-up titles young readers might enjoy, and fantasy books. Each of these posts contains some great suggestions, but one of the things I've come to wonder about—especially when reading “non-specialist” sites on children's literature—is where the new books appear. Adult readers tend to recommend books they enjoyed as a child rather than books contemporary to children reading today. As I've revisited a number of favorite titles while blogging here at Barnes & Noble, I have noticed that there are aspects of several beloved titles that might no longer be appropriate for children today. For example, in the most recent post of fantasy books, the newest of the recommended children's fantasy titles is Neil Gaiman's Coraline published in 2002. Though recently made into a marvelous animated feature film, the book is nearly 10 years old, and even Gaiman has more recently published work for young readers, including The Graveyard Book, which has just become the first book to win both the Newbery Medal and the Carnegie Medal: the US and UK's top awards (respectively) for children's literature.
Equally as important, but something rarely discussed in most forums, is the appropriateness of elder titles for contemporary readers. Edith Nesbit's works, also mentioned in the fantasy post, while charming and highly influential to fantasy (she was the J.K. Rowling of her day and influenced a wide variety of authors from C.S. Lewis to Edward Eager), often contain racial and class stereotypes, attitudes not surprising in a books over 100 years old. Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, which is recommended in the list of adult books for youth readers, is still widely taught in school systems throughout the US, but is beginning to require more and more context about racial prejudice and law practice in the Jim Crow South. Many readers cite this book as the beginning of awareness regarding racial inequality, yet I have a hard time imaging being a non-white reader confronting this book or Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as the only examples of non-white characters encountered during the school year.
At the same time, I feel something is lost if we disdain older titles, or avoid reading books that contain conflict based on color, sex, or creed. If we remove these types of conflicts from reading, not only do we risk missing out on many wonderful titles that cannot be expected to keep up with contemporary attitudes and mores (which will continue to change: our times will look equally as backward to future readers), but we would still not be reading titles that reflect our world. I suppose one of my greatest defenses for reading is that it allows people to imagine other worlds without necessarily having to live in them; books should allow readers to engage not only with what's realistic, but what's possible, what's interesting, or even what's fun to imagine.
My question is for the readers of this blog: What is your reason for visiting B&N's Letter Blocks blog? What do you hope to find here? Are you interested in children's literature as a parent, teacher, or an enthusiast? Are you interested in learning about older titles or newer ones? What is it you would like to read about, learn about, and discuss?
At the same time, I feel something is lost if we disdain older titles, or avoid reading books that contain conflict based on color, sex, or creed. If we remove these types of conflicts from reading, not only do we risk missing out on many wonderful titles that cannot be expected to keep up with contemporary attitudes and mores (which will continue to change: our times will look equally as backward to future readers), but we would still not be reading titles that reflect our world. I suppose one of my greatest defenses for reading is that it allows people to imagine other worlds without necessarily having to live in them; books should allow readers to engage not only with what's realistic, but what's possible, what's interesting, or even what's fun to imagine.
My question is for the readers of this blog: What is your reason for visiting B&N's Letter Blocks blog? What do you hope to find here? Are you interested in children's literature as a parent, teacher, or an enthusiast? Are you interested in learning about older titles or newer ones? What is it you would like to read about, learn about, and discuss?
Sarah A. Wood, a reviewer for Teenreads.com and Kidsreads.com since 2003, is a lifetime reader and writer. She refuses to accept that there are people who don't like to read and stubbornly believes this is only because they have not met the right book yet.
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