musings

Sunday Salon: Summer Reading

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There was an article in Thursday morning’s Wichita Eagle about kids and summer reading, and in the wake of all the BEA posts (and since summer started this past week for us here), I thought I could muse about what we do to encourage reading during the summer.

My first thought was keep it less scheduled, but I noticed last year that less scheduled lent itself to more YouTube watching than reading. So, I think this year, we’re actually going to have scheduled reading times. Probably in the morning — the school-age girls have workbooks they want to do (yes, you read that right: they asked for the workbooks!), and we’ll probably combine an hour reading time with that. It’ll be most helpful for A, who just finished Kindergarten, who needs a chance to practice her new found reading skills.

We’re also going to join the summer reading program at the library. (Can’t live without my library!) All the girls will do this, and, honestly, they all look forward to it. There will also be weekly trips to the library — we’ll have to experiment with what time, since the summer programs make for crowded libraries. Maybe we’ll pick a letter and choose books that way. And we’ll probably ransack the non-fiction, poetry and fairy tale shelves, which we never seem to do during the school year.

Another idea is audio books: we go places during the summer — big vacations, yes, but also little trips around town. And, instead of listening to the same old music over and over (which we do like to do), we can pop in a book and listen to that. The years when we’ve done this, there have been times when we’ve become more interested in the book than where we’re going.

As for me, I’ll probably keep my afternoon reading time, an hour or two just for myself to read, plus a bit of reading in the evenings. (Though it seems my TV and movie watching go up in the summertime; maybe I’ll be more regular about my Book to Movie posts!)

There’s some of my ideas: what are yours? How do you encourage reading for your kids, or make sure you have some time, during the summer?

Armchair BEA: Why You Should be a Professional

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When I went to sign up for today’s topics, this one popped out at me. Partially because no one else had tackled this subject, but also the idea of ethics and professionalism appeal to me. It’s very important, I think, to remember that even while we’re doing this for ourselves, we’re not alone in this vast Internet void.

Yes, we’re just bloggers. Yes, we get looked down upon by the “professional” media. No, we’re not paid (most of us). And no, we’re technically not professionals. But, that said, here are five good reasons why we should act professionally.

1. Because we’re not alone: when I first started blogging, I figured I’d just be putting it out there for myself and maybe a few friends and family. I never dreamed I’d have readers. I’m sure those starting blogs today aren’t that naive, but still. It’s good to remember that there are people following what you say. And, as a result, you should be professional about what you write. That’s not to say you can’t talk about your family, your kids, your life outside of books… but, there is a line that you should. not. cross. There is such a thing as too much information. (That’s not to say you can’t be chatty, you can. Just don’t be crude.)

2. Because a blog can lead to something more: think of it not just as a hobby, but a part-time volunteer job. It can go on resumes. It can be used to springboard into something else. It doesn’t have to, but make sure that your blog is some place you would be proud to show to a stranger.

3. Because we’re all adults (mostly) here: disagreements: fine. We all disagree. There are issues that need to be discussed. But name-calling, back-biting, dissing, whatever you want to call it… is not. acceptable. It’s okay to be honest. But be nice about being honest. And that goes for the comments, too.

4. Because no one likes a liar: This goes for the ethical side of things. My personal policy is: if I don’t intend to (eventually) review it, I don’t accept it. Which is why I’ve been trying to slow down accepting ARCs. I’m finding I can’t get to as many as I once did, or I’m not as interested in getting to them. But, whatever the reason is: if I accept a review copy, I feel obligated to read it. That may not be your policy. But, whatever your policy is, state it, and then stick by it.

5. Because the world is a happier place when we’re all acting like professionals and are ethical in our dealings with each other. Enough said.

Sunday Salon: On Objectivity, Niceness and Dialogue

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This was not the Sunday Salon post I had originally planned, but a couple of things conspired to bring it about. First, was Liz B‘s very thoughtful (and eloquent) response to the Faking Nice in the Blogosphere essay in the Huffington Post. Second, was a conversation I had with a commenter on a recent post of mine. Add musing about Lenore’s post on bloggers’ unforgivable sins/pet peeves (which I followed mostly on Twitter), and you’ve got a post that’s begging to be written.

Once upon a time, when I was in school, they told me that journalists are supposed to be objective. Get every side of a story, they said. Tell the facts, they said. We’re here to give the public the truth, they said. And, for the most part, I believed them. I believed that I could be objective about the story I was reporting on. I believed there was a way to get the whole truth, to fully inform the public.

Then again, I was a naive 20-something college student.

See, leaving aside debates about the metaphysical here, I’ve come to believe that there is no “truth”. There is no objectivity. Instead, there are only various sides to a story. A reporter, a reviewer, a person telling their neighbor what happened at school yesterday: all of them are constantly choosing what information to put in and what information to leave out. If you, for whatever reason, believe one newspaper, one TV news station, one reviewer, one blogger to be telling the “truth” about something, then, my friend, you are seriously misguided. What you are getting is one perspective. Which is a whole other ball of wax.

Now, you may find you agree with that perspective. That is entirely your prerogative. Or you may not. Again: that’s your prerogative. In fact, to throw in my two cents about the Huffington Post essay, that is one of the things I love about book bloggers. See: everyone has their own individual take on books; if you’re a serious blog reader (or even a serious reader looking for recommendations), you’ll read a fair number of blogs to get a wide view on a number of different books. You find the ones you like, you respectfully disagree with others, and we’re all happy.

Except when we’re not. See, it’s the respectfully disagree clause that gets me. One of the things about blogging and opinions is that they’re personal. As an aside — that’s one of the things I think contributes to the value of the lit blogsphere: there really is no pretense of objectivity here. We all have our individual views, our individual biases, and we’re not really afraid to get personal, to honestly speak our minds, especially when we’re discussing what we think about the books we read.

However, that leads us sometimes to give offense. Authors, publishers, other readers don’t particularly like it when our opinions don’t fully mesh with theirs. Which is why they told us, in school, that journalists (or reviewers) needed to be objective, impersonal. If we didn’t bring our bias into it, then we were above giving offense, we were above opinion, above debate. Honestly, though? That’s all really bull. And I think, on some level, we know it. In America at least, we are constantly throwing terms like “liberal bias” or “conservative bias”, or in the Huffington Post’s case “niceness” and “rigor”, around, which means — honestly — that we don’t really believe in total objectivity.

I really shouldn’t wonder, then, that we’ve forgotten how to have a dialogue. See, I have my opinions — and that’s all I’m expressing here — and you have yours. Sometimes, Heaven be praised, we agree. Other times, we don’t. And, you know what? That’s not the end of the world. I respect that you didn’t like a book I loved, and I hope the reverse is true. I respect your honest opinion of my reviews, whether you think they’re too chatty (yes, I’ve been told that) or too nice or too honest and mean (yes, I’ve been told that, too).

However, I do have a caveat: when we are having a discussion — whether it be in comments or as blog posts — I would appreciate it if you quoted my reviews correctly; not what you think I said, but what I actually wrote. I would also appreciate it if we could have an honest, open discussion (I know I circumvent this by sometimes calling authors arrogant asses, and I apologize for that; I could choose my words more carefully) without name-calling, sarcasm, or prejudgment.

I know I’m asking a lot, but there it is: it’s my blog you’re visiting, be nice. They’re my opinions you’re reading, take them for what they are. I would only expect that you’d expect the same from me.

Sunday Salon: Interacting With Books

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Good morning, all! I meant to get this up earlier, but stayed up really late last night watching Back to the Future with M and C. You know what? It’s still a good movie 25 years later.

So, a few days ago, Hubby and M got into a discussion. Here’s the gist of it, if I remember right: Hubby started by asking why there weren’t, if JK Rowling was “right”, more magical people in the world? Then he branched out: how does one come by magical powers? Is it genetic? If so, how does one get the gene? M really got into the discussion; it ranged all over from genetics to the idea of cultural pressure to general world-building techniques — Riordan and Tolkien were both brought up at one point — as well as trying, very hard, to justify the small numbers of magical people in Rowling’s world.

I participated a bit, but mostly I sat mystified, thinking, “Guys…. it’s just a book.”

Hubby and I talked about it afterward: he asked if, say, I had ever stopped to wonder how rich Elizabeth Bennett was after she married Darcy. And I honestly had to admit that no, I haven’t. I read books, I enjoy books, I write about books, I talk about books, but I don’t actually think about the world in the books. The most I can admit to is getting crushes on men in books, or wanting to live next door to a particular family, but even those don’t last long after I shut the pages. I just don’t interact with books that way.

Which leads me to today’s question: do you? Do you wonder about the small intricacies in the world that a particular author has created, whether it be fantasy or contemporary fiction? Do you see yourself in that world? Do you want to interact with the people in it?

Sunday Salon: Ten Influential Books

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I was musing about the fact that I didn’t have a Sunday Salon post, and hubby mentioned that around the blogs he frequents, they’re talking about the ten influential books in their lives. Hubby’s list includes 15 heady philosophical books; he said that while it’s mostly academics doing this, there’s no reason why us non-academic readers can’t play along.

So, ten influential books in my life, in no particular order:

Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan: I’ve mentioned this before, but Pollan has changed the way I — we — think about food. It started with some articles that were the basis of this book, but ever since I first read them, I’ve been obsessive about High Fructose Corn Syrup in my diet. I make bread weekly because of this man. I shop at farmer’s markets and buy my meat from a local rancher because of this man. I cringe every time I walk into Wal-Mart (it’s still a work in progress; we are on a limited budget after all) because of this man. My life is healthier because of this man, and I am glad for it.

Beauty, by Robin McKinley: this is what started my love of KidLit as an adult. A friend was properly shocked that I hadn’t read this, handed it to me, and I’ve never looked back. So they’re kids books? So what? I love kids books. I love the writing — I think it’s tighter, almost better, than adult books — and I love the stories being told. My life would be so much less without the kids books that I read.

Austenland, by Shannon Hale: admittedly, it’s not one of Shannon Hale’s better books, though I do like it quite a bit. But, this is on my list because it’s the first ARC I requested from a publisher. I’d never even thought about doing that before Andi and Heather came into my life, and then suddenly a whole new world was opened up: I could request books! Before they are published! I heard about this one; I coveted it. And, when I asked, they sent it to me! Amazing. I’m still not as into all the ARC love as other bloggers, but I do like it when I get some in the mail. It’s kind of a validation thing, I guess. At any rate, I do love what I do.

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen: I couldn’t not have a Jane Austen on here, right? This one, my mother handed to me when I was 14 and I just didn’t get it. Everything fell flat. Luckily A&E and Colin Firth came along and reintroduced me to Lizzy and Mr. Darcy (yes, I saw the miniseries before I read the book!). I went back to the book, discovered Jane’s wit and observations and humor, and fell in love with her. Now I can’t imagine literary life without picking up and reading an Austen book once in a while.

Little House on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder: Hubby said I should have a book from my childhood, and this one popped into mind. As I wrote to Besty at Fuse #8 when I submitted my Top 10 Children’s fiction books: “This was one book that spurred my love of reading. I read it so many times when I was a kid that I practically memorized it. (And I still quote passages of it to my children.) I wanted to be Laura. I wanted to enjoy life like Laura. I wanted to write like Laura. I’m glad I had Laura in my life.”

Sports Illustrated magazine: I know: not a book. But, honestly, it influenced me to major in journalism in college. I had my own subscription for most of high school, paid for with my own money. My mom would always watch for the swimsuit issue and squirrel it away — though I managed, on occasion, to find it: there were articles I wanted to read! It fed my love of sports, it showed me what tight, interesting, good reporting could do. I suppose I should have been reading Time or Atlantic Monthly, but, dang it, I loved my SI.

Deadly Persuasion, by Jean Kilborne: Soon after C was born, a friend loaned me this book. It simultaneously scared and empowered me: these girls I was embarking upon raising were going to be inundated with terrible images from the media, they would be pressured into buying things that were degrading to them, and yet… I had the power to teach, to guard, to guide, to put my money where my mouth was. Which is why I won’t let my kids be billboard ads for companies, among other things.

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald: Hubby thought this was an odd inclusion: why does a book that I haven’t opened up in 20 years rate here? Because, for me, this is all tied up in thinking about music and literature and the power of metaphor. I’m not sure it changed me, but it did stay with me.

Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau: I’m a pacifist. I can pinpoint this to my reading of Thoreau’s work and the whole idea of non-violent protest as a means for change. My admiration of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ghandi came from this essay, too. It resonated deep within me, and — again — even though I haven’t reread this since high school, I found that it fundamentally changed my thinking about war, about protest, about how to go about creating change.

I’m a Stranger Here Myself, Bill Bryson: I’m sure I could have picked any number of travel books to fill this last slot; ones that feed the wanderlust that my pocketbook cannot satiate. But, it comes down to this one: Bryson’s hysterical reflections on being reintroduced to America after years of living in England. It feeds into my European sensibilities, it looks at my country with a new and fresh light. But, most of all, it makes me laugh.

So, there are my ten. What are yours?

Kicking it Up a Notch: When Children are Stuck in a Reading Rut

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Imagine this scenario:

Your first child is a precocious kid. She asks you to read aloud books like The Secret Garden or House at Pooh Corner when she’s barely four years old. She’s a bit of a slow learner when it comes to reading (which you happily blame on the school system in Mississippi), but by the end of first grade, she’s reading books like Junie B. Jones and The Magic Treehouse series to herself. She seriously takes off in second grade, and by third grade she’s devouring Harry Potter (all of them that were printed by that date, anyway) and anything else she can get her hands on. She progresses increasingly as she gets older; nothing is too difficult, to obscure, or too big for her.

Then along comes your second child. She’s not as precocious; she’s happy to have you read picture books aloud to her well into kindergarten. Eventually, she asks you to read Wizard of Oz aloud, but that’s pretty much all. She dabbles in Narnia and with Harry Potter, but is not enthusiastic about them. She learns to read faster than her older sister (different school system), and is also able to read Junie B. Jones and The Magic Treehouse books (as well as Clementine) by the end of first grade. And then… she stalls. Second grade, third grade go by and she really shows no sign of being interested in longer books. That’s not exactly accurate: she has discovered that she loves having longer books read aloud to her: Matilda, the Ranger’s Apprentice, Sisters Grimm and so on. But, she shows no sign of desiring to read ahead in the book (unlike her sister), to pick up the book on her own after you close it every night.

Sound familiar?

Obviously, this is based on personal experience, here: M is our “reader”, devouring books, sometimes as many as one a day. C is our extrovert: it’s not that she doesn’t like reading, or that it’s difficult for her. Rather, there’s better things that she wants to do with her time. And, to tell the truth, long books intimidate her.

I have thought about pushing C; M and I have thrust books at her, telling her that she’d LOVE this, that or the other. We’ve bribed her: the only way she read Order of the Phoenix was that we wouldn’t let her see the movie until she finished. But, I wonder about either of these approaches: I want C to love reading, and she’s not going to love reading if she’s forced or coerced or bribed to do it.

So, what to do? I’ve thought long about how to get C to enjoy what she’s reading, to be excited about books — long or short — and these are some of the ideas that seem to have worked for us.

1. Find a genre that your child is interested in. For M, we let her read the Harry Potter books over and over, and threw fantasy books at her as often as possible. Sure, we gave her other books to “branch out” but mostly we let her read where her interests were. For C, however, it’s not been so easy. She enjoys picture books, and still pilfers through our picture book piles every library day. So when I’m at the library, I pick up a few picture books with longer stories that I know C will pick up and read. Fairy and folk tales, books about girls her own age (Moxy Maxwell or Bobby Versus Girls, Accidentally), and general non-fiction, are also all things that she likes.

2. Try Graphic Novels. This was the big winner in our house. Graphic novels like Babymouse and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, or Dork Diaries and Ellie McDoodle, bridged the gap between early chapter books and more difficult middle grade books for C.

3. Don’t push it. You know the saying “at least they’re reading”? Think about that. Reading is not supposed to be a chore, it’s supposed to be fun. And if they LOVE reading Magic Treehouse (even though you think it’s crap), then let them read Magic Treehouse. Besides, if you push a kid to read something they’re not ready for they’re going to end up hating it (or at the very least, not getting much out of it). And that would be worse, I think, than them reading under their grade level.

4. Have someone else — a librarian, a friend, a teacher — suggest books. Sometimes, the reason your child isn’t progressing is because it’s coming from you, the parent. (Sad, but true.) There are other sources to get book recommendations. Have your child (not you!) talk to them, and get some ideas there. They might find something they really like. Included in this are fads, which are not always bad. Perhaps part of the reason M read Harry Potter was because everyone around her was reading Harry Potter. Likewise, C willingly reads and loves the Percy Jackson books because they’re popular right now.

5. In that same vein, try a parent-child book group. I’m not going to go into details, but rather send you over to Imagination Soup for some great ideas and reasons why this works, and works well.

Oh, and 6. Keep trying. Just because they don’t love Saffy’s Angel right now, doesn’t mean they won’t love it later. (We handed the book to her at the end of third grade; she could have read it because she read well enough. But she didn’t actually read the book until a month ago, and started it only because she couldn’t find anything else to read. She did like it, in the end.) Time and patience, as with everything, is the key.

Because, in the end, you don’t want to raise a precocious reader. You want to raise a child who loves books. Right?

Sunday Salon: Lists, Battles and Tours: Oh My!

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It’s pretty much spring here in Kansas, which means I’m reading less and spending time outside basking in the warm sun. Thankfully, my laptop has a high enough wireless reception that I can take it outside and catch up on all the fun stuff that’s going on this month.

First of all, if you haven’t been following Fuse #8’s Top 100 Children’s Fiction Book list, why not? It’s been a lot of fun to see what’s shown up. There have been lots of books that I’ve thought “Oh, man! Should have put that one on my list!”, a couple that I’ve never heard of and at least one (Order of the Phoenix?!) that I’ve said “Huh. Why that one?” Betsy’s put an amazing amount of work into this, and it shows. (Speaking of Betsy, check out the Forbes article: The Double Life of Betsy Bird. Way cool that a kidlit blogger’s made it *that* big!)

Since we’re all feeling the void that the Cybils finishing has left in our lives (well, I am), it’s a good thing that we have both School Library Journal’s Battle of the Kids Books and Nerds Heart YA coming up. You can nominated books for Nerds Heart YA (link goes directly to the nominating form; stop by the blog for guidelines). Like Liz at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy, I had a hard time following this last year, only catching some of the judges decision. Thankfully, they took care of the problem this year by setting up its own blog. And, for those of you on Twitter, a Twitter account. And, in a really cool difference from last year, we get to vote a book back from the dead (zombie books… oooh…) in the Battle of the Kids books. The catch is that we have to do it before the battle starts. So, go, and choose wisely my friends. (Did I mention that they’re on Twitter, too? They are!)

Finally (last but not least), there are two tours of going on this week. First, Varian Johnson’s book Saving Maddie is released this week, and he’s going on a blog tour. There’s some great stops on the tour (okay, I’m one of them… but really, it sounds like a good tour)… be sure to check it out. From They Call Me Mr. V:

Monday: I’ll be discussing religion, stereotypes and cover art with Melodye Shore in The Author’s Tent.

Tuesday: I’ll be debuting the Saving Maddie Playlist at Reading in Color with Ari. (This is also Release Day. And my birthday.)

Wednesday: I’ll be at Gwenda Bond’s Shaken and Stirred, where I’ll be talking about my writing process for Saving Maddie. (FYI–Gwenda is also a graduate of Vermont College, and is AWESOME.)

Thursday: I’ll be at Book Nut with Melissa, where I’ll be answering questions like, “What’s my favorite scene?”

Friday: I’ll be talking to a student interviewer at Crazy Quilts.

And secondly, it’s time for Share a Story – Shape a Future. The tour begins tomorrow and runs through Friday. (Shameless self-promotion: Jen Robinson asked me to be a part of her day on Friday, so do check back!) This year’s theme is It Takes a Village to Raise a Reader. Do follow along, either on the blog or on Twitter at #sas2010. I’m sure there will be many great posts and great ideas about sharing books with children.

And that’s about it for me, this week. I’m off to go outside and enjoy the day. Hope you are, too!

Sunday Salon: Fanfiction

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This will have to be a quickie… I’ve been meaning to get to the computer to write a bookish musing post, but the laptop’s down again (we just — finally — caved and bought a new one), and M’s been hogging the desktop, whenever she can, for the last week.

Doing what, you ask?

Reading Harry Potter fanfiction.

I don’t remember how she got started on it; perhaps Hubby set her on to a site, or perhaps she discovered it on her own, but the girl’s addicted. So much so that her “regular” reading has gone down (I think she’s finished a book or two, maybe, in the past week, but that’s down from her usual amount of four or five), and it’s caused some tension with her younger sisters who also want their share of computer time.

And, I have to admit: I don’t like it. Not because she’s on the computer. No: I don’t like it because I have a bias against fanfiction.

Hubby — who writes fanfic — and M have gone the rounds with me as to why I don’t, and all I can come up with is that it’s not “real” writing. I feel like it’s a bunch of first or second drafts out there, and that it’s much like brain candy (which I do admit, many books are): there’s no inherent *worth* in creating stories from someone else’s imagined universe.

So… my question for you today is this: what do you think about fanfiction? If you do read/write it, why? What do you get from it? Or, if you don’t, why not? What turns you off about it?

I know I’m biased. But I promise to try and keep an open mind.

Sunday Salon: Odds and Ends

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Some bookish and non-bookish musings this Sunday morning.

My email program’s spell check, for some reason, has decided that I speak French. It’s actually quite frustrating that I can’t figure out how to convince it that I don’t actually speak French. And now Firefox is acting up. (So far I’ve misspelled: spell, some, reason, that, speak, quite, and now…. go figure.a)

In case you haven’t heard, Flashlight Worthy Book Recommendations has come up with a list of The Best Young Adult Books of 2009, as inpsired by Kelly at YAnnabe’s Unsung YA list. Full disclosure: somehow I was asked to participate on this list, and I did send a book in. It’s still a quite brilliant list, though. And stick around to check out the site a bit.

Quite a few people have signed up for our Catcher in the Rye read along which starts next Sunday. Here’s a list of the people who’ll be participating so far:

Amanda at The Zen Leaf
Heather at Tales of a Capricious Reader
Jackie at Farmlane Books
Rob at Books are Like Candy Corn
Nan’s Corner of the Web
Rmlrhonda
Beth at Thinking of Thinking
Kim at Page After Page
Suko at Suko’s Notebook
Bree at The Things We Read
Jill at Fizzy Thoughts
Corinne at The Book Nest

You know you want to join in!

Want to know what C, M and I are all excited for this Friday? The Lightning Thief opens! Squee! Here’s a bit of a teaser…

Oh, and while you’re waiting, why not find out your demigod power? (Me, I’m the child of Grover. Kind of odd, but I think I like it.)

What’s on your mind today?