Chapter Summaries 6 (pp. 213-227)
Raychel Trevino ~ LSSL 5393 ~ Dr. Lesesne
Hello, Muggles
While there have been influential children's books throughout the history of children's literature, Harry Potter changed things. This phenomenon of a book made reading children's books cool for adults. Men and women alike were reading alongside their children or on their own because these books were just plain awesome. It was a literary adventure and everyone wanted to go on that wild ride.
This ended up opening a door for other children's books. Adults have picked them up, and they are just as anxious as their young counterparts for the next bestselling series to come out.
A List All Their Own...Hmmmm
They Want Their Cake & Eat It Too!
The Bigger the Better?
Book Talk
And then came the Twilight books... They were an overnight sensation, as were the movies. Everywhere you went there was someone (young or older) wearing a Team Edward or Team Jacob shirt. Again, there were armies of adults reading these children's, albeit, young adult, books.
But there's something really fantastic about truly being interested in a book that your teen loves, too. Let's face it, these writers are braving the most fickle audience: teenagers. Eek! But they have a gift of capturing their attention, their imaginations, and their heart strings, and they give us, as parents of these scary little humans a gift as well - something to really talk about with our kids.
Modern-Classics
During this post Harry Potter time, anything goes and the more imaginative the better. However, a trend has been noticed: take a classic and pump it up with something supernatural or super dystopian. A concept that is great for the writers because half of the concept is already there they just have to soup it up with something unreal.
Another trend is to have big name writers collaborating on projects. This is a great advertising ploy as it creates a lot of hype and excitement among fans. It's probably a good thing, too, because producing these books can't be cheap.
E-nough
Technology has its benefits and shortcomings in the world of writing. For one, you have the ability to reach one personally via e-mail - and they usually respond! For example, this past December three students I finished reading the Texas Bluebonnet nominee The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom we loved it so much we decided to tell the author so. I sent the email off in the evening, and by the next morning we had a response from his. The students were ecstatic! We kept corresponding and by the end of December author Christopher Healy sent my three students an autographed copy of the his trilogy made out to them personally! It was a fabulous surprise, and he did it all on his own.
On the other hand, I may be kind of old school, but e-books aren't the "next best thing" in my opinion. They are awkward, especially picture books where a single picture takes up the two page spread, and they lack the magic of a real book. They are convenient when you are lugging around a 30 pound tote bag, but even pictureless novels are better when you can feel them in your hand. And from the author's perspective, I'm sure that's they way they feel about their paychecks, too.