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'Children's book are too bleak':
Hope I'm not double-posting this...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1208934/Childrens-book-bleak-Leading-author-condemns-realistic-novels.html
Comments
(My son was shadowing the Carnegia Medal shortlist again this year and as two of the books had issues like this, school sent out an explanatory form with quoted examples, and it was then up to the parents to agree by signing the form so
their child could read those books.)
Earlier this year there was an article about the lack of fathers in books, and quite a few of the writers here commented.
Personally speaking, it seems to be the perception that the only way to succeed as a children's author, is to be more shocking, or unpleasant than the next. The result being they are answering questions that are reality based, but not actually being asked by the children. Education boffs latch onto these books, perceiving them as cutting edge, not realising that they are actually feeding the baser nature. I have also seen the same trend in drama lessons, where for example bad language is consistently used in the name of being relevant. Considering the wealth of plays available this is inexcusable and gives the wrong message to young minds.
(one of them is getting the 'Richard Hannay Collection' after expressing an interest in John Buchan last night. He was able to read the first few pages on Amazon as it had a look inside option. He read the first three pages that were the excerpt and wanted more...)
He wrote some great 'boys own' stories.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2009/aug/26/children-realism-anne-fine
As for all books being too bleak - absolute tosh!! There are many, many books out there for children to read that offer many, many different storylines, genres, styles; up-beat, down-beat, realistic, gritty, fantasy, fable. You name it, you can get it, that's what makes writing for children so damned exciting. I should know I read enough of them and they encompass so many narrative styles and messages that to focus on just one area of the market is very blinkered and misleading.