The best way to
improve your writing is to read so I’ve been consuming stories for the
last few weeks.
I’ve taken them electronically, on paper, and I’ve
listened to a few audiobooks. A dog narrates my MG story, so I’ve sought out
talking animal stories – Bunnicula, and others. I’m going for humor so I
checked out Barbara Parks and The Origami
Yoda and Bruce Corville’s My Teacher
is an Alien. I packed a bunch of books and took on vacation. When I and ran
out, I went to the Salt Lake city and county library systems and loaded up
online.
What amazing times we live in. Not only are there things
like libraries, but from thousands of miles away, you can check things out. All
you need is a library card and an app called Overdrive and it will get you into
numerous library systems around the country. The county seems to have more
kid’s lit available than the city. You can’t always find what you’re looking
for, but they have plenty of other titles.
Available was Rebecca Stead’s Liar & Spy. I liked her last book so went with this one. At
WYFIR last summer the importance of antagonists was stressed. Stead gives us
the typical school bullies and adds the in-your-head kind. The MC had several
things going on and Stead brought everything to a close in a feel-good kind of
way. Makes me wish I could write like that. I fell into the story to the point
I forgot to look at it with my writer’s critical eye. Another wonderful thing
Stead does is her use of
metaphor. She uses Seurat's pointillism style of art in which numerous
insignificant dots combine to make a big picture. Also at WIFYR, Martine
Leavitt's had a session on metaphors. This is a great book.
Another great author, another I-want-to-write-like-that is Tom
Angleberger. In The Strange Case of
Origami Yoda Angleberger wastes no time getting to the heart of the MC’s
desire. This happens the very first sentence. He builds from there, and saves
the final reveal to the very last sentence. He has the upper MG kids pegged and
his story is engaging. It is so well crafted.
Other finds: The Extraordinary
Education of Nicholas Benedict. Trenton Lee Stewart’s prequel to the
Mysterious Benedict Society seems to break the rules for fiction and does the
opposite of Angleberger’s approach. Published last year, this feels like an old
fashioned book in which the writer takes time to lay down the setting and build
the character. The book is long - 480 pages – and it takes a good hundred pages
in before we get a sense of MC’s goal and the story gets off the ground, but. I
liked it.
In looking at humor, Barbara Parks is good. I reread Skinnybones, one I read aloud numerous
times to students. Parks is one of the best. Also read her My Mother Got Married (and other disasters). They were written
in the 80s when it was more acceptable to set the humor before pushing a story.
She addressed kids of divorced parents dealing with a remarriage in the one and
seems to have nailed the voice for that audience.
I looked at two of the Bunnicula series, narrated by a dog. Written
in the 70s, the thing that impressed me most was audience. The Bunnicula books
do not feel like they were written for kids. They feel like a Broadway play
storyline and I kept thinking that they missed the kid voice. Don’t know why
these books were so popular. The family in this story seemed too successful and
Leave-it-to-Beaver clean, unlike the more street smart,
families-working-to-make-ends-meet people I’ve taught. They have helped me hone
in on my target MG boy audience.
So I’ve been going through some children’s literature.
1 comment:
When I think of my all-time favorite books, a good percentage of them are MG. It might be because of how much I loved reading at that age and discovering story and words and all of those things that even a lifelong reader can only discover once. Harriet The Spy, The Enormous Egg, the Hardy Boys, James and the Giant Peach, Charlotte's Web, Homer Price--all old classics that still hold up. But the same things that make those great can be found in more current MG books.
Post a Comment