Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Are kids books boring?

Okay, already said that Rick Riordan is a demi-god, and this is further proof:

http://rickriordan.blogspot.com/2007/01/are-kids-books-boring.html

Must quote from the above web site(I hope this is okay) because it is spot on what I have been thinking recently (mainly about the Newbery Award):

"There are relevant, haunting, wonderfully written books that appeal to adults but are simply not kid-friendly, even if they are labeled as kids' books. The major award lists are mostly populated by books like this. Visit any English classroom in the country and you will find these books being taught in the curriculum, because the teachers love them (or more often, the teachers don't have time to read them, but the books are on a literary award list, and so they must be safe choices)."

The old "contemplate-our-navel" school of thought. Oddly enough, middle school students are less interested in contemplating their navels than tenured professors are. Not that I'm at all bitter about tenured professors.

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