Steven just finished the third Harry Potter book. I looked it up and it had: 107,253 words in it. I tried to read one page out of every three, while he read the other two-thirds.
Together, so far, we have gone through: 269,338 words of Harry Potter!!! Yay!!!
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Friday, April 30, 2010
Modern versus classic
With reading lots of children's literature, one thing really stands out: New books don't hold a candle to the old ones.
Even modern books that I like are not written nearly as well as the old ones are. There tend to be a lot of slang terms, bad grammar, a lack of punctuation, simplified sentence structures, and poor editing.
Reading an older book like "Ann of Green Gables" or "Pippi Longstocking" really shows the difference. The writing is richer, more complex, better thought out, and more standard in its grammar and style.
Few modern books can really compare to the old stuff. Even the Harry Potter books, which are among the best written of the modern books I've read, desperately could have used editing--"The Order of the Phoenix" and the later books in particular.
The sad thing is, I don't think this is just a matter of cutting out the editors in favor of cost-cutting. I think it is a general deterioration in our society's ability to write.
As much as I like the Percy Jackson books, I can't help but note that they are actually not written very well. And the author is a former junior high English teacher!
If the teachers don't write well, what hope for their students?
Writing really well, not merely telling a story and putting words on a page, may be a dying art.
Even modern books that I like are not written nearly as well as the old ones are. There tend to be a lot of slang terms, bad grammar, a lack of punctuation, simplified sentence structures, and poor editing.
Reading an older book like "Ann of Green Gables" or "Pippi Longstocking" really shows the difference. The writing is richer, more complex, better thought out, and more standard in its grammar and style.
Few modern books can really compare to the old stuff. Even the Harry Potter books, which are among the best written of the modern books I've read, desperately could have used editing--"The Order of the Phoenix" and the later books in particular.
The sad thing is, I don't think this is just a matter of cutting out the editors in favor of cost-cutting. I think it is a general deterioration in our society's ability to write.
As much as I like the Percy Jackson books, I can't help but note that they are actually not written very well. And the author is a former junior high English teacher!
If the teachers don't write well, what hope for their students?
Writing really well, not merely telling a story and putting words on a page, may be a dying art.
Book review: Cricket and Hugo
Since almost all I read these days are kids' books. I thought I should start leaving reviews...
About two years ago, I read "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" which won the Caldicot Medal for outstanding picture book. At the time, it was like no other picture book anyone had seen, and the award drew a lot of criticism. The book starts out with page after page of pencil drawings. You see a kid running, then ducking behind a grate in the wall, then peering out from behind a clock, etc. Page after page after page of drawings. The book isn't a slim little pre-school reader. When there is text, it's more at the 4th grade level or higher. It's meant for older kids.
The book has two parts. The first tells you of Hugo and his struggle to survive essentially on the streets. His uncle, who maintained the clocks at the Paris train station has disappeared or died, and Hugo is left with no one to take care of him. So, he takes over his uncle's job and paycheck. He figures that as long as the clocks continue to run properly, he'll be able to continue on. Obviously, he has struggles and problems. By the end of the first part, he is in a more-secure position.
That is as far as our then-third grade girl got in the book. Which is too bad, because the second half is great. Hugo discovers a mechanical man and begins to repair it (I think that actually happens in the first part of the book). The thing is made with extraordinary complexity. Wind it up, and it can draw a complete and complex picture on a piece of paper. This leads to other discoveries, and in the end Hugo himself becomes a master of making similar automatons.
The book is exciting and interesting. I highly recommend it.
Right after I read "Hugo", I read the old classic "The Cricket in Times Square". I found the two books were perfect companions. Both have an adventurous boy who move about their cities, both take place in train stations, and both have a sense of wonder and magic.
Not only do I recommend both, but I recommend they be read together.
In fact, they would be great books to pair up in a book club. The club could discuss the differences and similarities between the two and the similar thematic threads.
About two years ago, I read "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" which won the Caldicot Medal for outstanding picture book. At the time, it was like no other picture book anyone had seen, and the award drew a lot of criticism. The book starts out with page after page of pencil drawings. You see a kid running, then ducking behind a grate in the wall, then peering out from behind a clock, etc. Page after page after page of drawings. The book isn't a slim little pre-school reader. When there is text, it's more at the 4th grade level or higher. It's meant for older kids.
The book has two parts. The first tells you of Hugo and his struggle to survive essentially on the streets. His uncle, who maintained the clocks at the Paris train station has disappeared or died, and Hugo is left with no one to take care of him. So, he takes over his uncle's job and paycheck. He figures that as long as the clocks continue to run properly, he'll be able to continue on. Obviously, he has struggles and problems. By the end of the first part, he is in a more-secure position.
That is as far as our then-third grade girl got in the book. Which is too bad, because the second half is great. Hugo discovers a mechanical man and begins to repair it (I think that actually happens in the first part of the book). The thing is made with extraordinary complexity. Wind it up, and it can draw a complete and complex picture on a piece of paper. This leads to other discoveries, and in the end Hugo himself becomes a master of making similar automatons.
The book is exciting and interesting. I highly recommend it.
Right after I read "Hugo", I read the old classic "The Cricket in Times Square". I found the two books were perfect companions. Both have an adventurous boy who move about their cities, both take place in train stations, and both have a sense of wonder and magic.
Not only do I recommend both, but I recommend they be read together.
In fact, they would be great books to pair up in a book club. The club could discuss the differences and similarities between the two and the similar thematic threads.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Lightning Thief Movie (Redux)
I meant to do this post ages ago, but I might as well do it now.
Most of the differences between the movie of the "Lightning Thief" and the book were okay by me. I would have preferred the book version, but going to the Parthenon in Nashville was a pretty good idea for the movie.
There is one pretty big thematic element that was changed, though, that stuck in my mind long after I saw the movie. Here it is:
In the book, the gods don't have much to do with their kids. This is one of their big rules. But it isn't done out of malice or out of any true neglect. In a sense it is just the opposite. By separating themselves from their kids, they are forcing their kids--born to be heroes and leaders--to find their own way in the world. In a sense, it is a choice between the kids having a silver spoon in their mouth from the day they are born, and thus never having to fight for anything in their lives, and between the kids having to fight for every gain--making each success more worth while. It's a very ancient-Greece sort of idea, and was in line with the old myths.
The movie totally turns that on its head. In the movie, the gods desperately want to be a part of their kids' lives and to help them, but they are barred from doing so because of an edict from Zeus. Instead of a well-thought-out and true-to-the mythology concept of letting their children find their own strength, we get a post-modern concept of parenthood as coddling and protective. Only a stupid law keeps the gods away, very much against their will.
Anyway, that is the one big difference that stuck with me all this time.
(And I still want to know why the Kindle version of the last book is slightly different than the hard-cover.)
Most of the differences between the movie of the "Lightning Thief" and the book were okay by me. I would have preferred the book version, but going to the Parthenon in Nashville was a pretty good idea for the movie.
There is one pretty big thematic element that was changed, though, that stuck in my mind long after I saw the movie. Here it is:
In the book, the gods don't have much to do with their kids. This is one of their big rules. But it isn't done out of malice or out of any true neglect. In a sense it is just the opposite. By separating themselves from their kids, they are forcing their kids--born to be heroes and leaders--to find their own way in the world. In a sense, it is a choice between the kids having a silver spoon in their mouth from the day they are born, and thus never having to fight for anything in their lives, and between the kids having to fight for every gain--making each success more worth while. It's a very ancient-Greece sort of idea, and was in line with the old myths.
The movie totally turns that on its head. In the movie, the gods desperately want to be a part of their kids' lives and to help them, but they are barred from doing so because of an edict from Zeus. Instead of a well-thought-out and true-to-the mythology concept of letting their children find their own strength, we get a post-modern concept of parenthood as coddling and protective. Only a stupid law keeps the gods away, very much against their will.
Anyway, that is the one big difference that stuck with me all this time.
(And I still want to know why the Kindle version of the last book is slightly different than the hard-cover.)
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Boy readers. And Percy Jackson
Tech Central Station, which I suppose changed it silly name to the initials TCS a while back (not much of an improvement) reports on boys' reading problems and the fact that they have been scoring substantially below girls on standardized tests for 30 years:
I actually had a strange reaction to one thing in the books. The stories revolve around a group of "half-bloods", or in mythological terms: demigods. Kids with one normal, mortal parent, and one god parent...as in Olympian gods, like Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, and etc. The kids are unabashedly referred to as "heroes" throughout the books. Just being a demigod means that it is their place in life to fight monsters and help their god-parents, making them naturally-born heroes.
But I've lived in a post-modern and liberal world all of my life. My high school, college, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, all of it was on the cultural and political left. I think I've been so ingrained against the idea of anyone ever being an unapologetic "hero" that my mind actually skips a step when I see the kids in the books being referred to that way. It's really a sad commentary, I think, that we can no longer simply accept the heroic without qualifying it and without suspicion.
In the end, Percy Jackson proves himself to be a true hero, and even the greatest hero of all the Greek myths. Nearly every feat of every hero from antiquity was thrown at him, and he survived "against all odds." But it is not only his fighting ability that makes him a hero, but two choices he makes in particular (neither is the one from the Great Prophesy.)
Choice #1: I've always felt one of the most powerful stories in Greek mythology was that of Odysseus and Calypso. If you don't remember: Odysseus washes up on Calypso's island. She's beautiful, she's perfect, the island is perfect and peaceful, he could be immortal on the island with her, no more war, no more odyssying around the Med for 10 years. But it isn't enough. He can't stay because he is human. He must strive and struggle and fight if he is to remain human and to remain Odysseus. So, he leaves her and the perfect life behind. In the words of Tennyson:
Choice #2: (Spoiler Alert!!) The gods, in the end offer to grant Percy one wish. Greek Mythology is filled with heroes acting selfishly, and the point is made again and again in the books that heroes are selfish and not to be trusted in the end. Almost every old hero is held up as wanting from Orpheus to Hercules. But again, Percy passes the test. When he is offered anything, he chooses to use his wish to help others...pretty much stunning the gods by doing that. But he's a complete hero, a superior fighter as well as a friend and honorable young man.
One of the kids we carpool with is a 9.75 year old boy, and he has been reading these as well and loves them. I've given copies to my niece's classroom as well. They are really great boy books. Full of heroism and sacrifice and standing firm against the odds.
I highly recommend them to anyone.
[ TCS ] The good news is that reading scores for 9 and 13-year-olds are the highest ever according to results released this week from the 2008 National Assessment of Educational Progress.The article talks about one way to change this:
The bad news is that boys trail girls in reading performance at all age levels. The gap at age 9 is 8 points, at age 13 is 8 points, and at age 17 is 11 points. This is not a new trend—boys have been scoring lower than girls on U.S. Department of Education reading tests for more than 30 years.
The reading gender gap spans every racial and ethnic group, and categorically finds boys underperforming girls regardless of income, disability, or English-speaking ability.
One of the best ways to get boys reading is to offer them reading material that motivates them to want to read. Boys enjoy reading: nonfiction; stories with action and adventure; stories with male protagonists; and a wide variety of reading materials, including books, magazines, newspapers, how-to manuals, Web sites, comic books, and graphic novels.I've been reading the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books lately (Lightning Thief, Sea of Monsters, Titan's Curse, Battle of the Labyrinth, and yesterday's release of The Last Olympian.) They are very, very boy friendly. It's all about being a hero (literally), being there to fight beside your friends, fighting the good fight, etc.
Many teachers do not offer boy-friendly reading material because they view it as substandard. They believe it's better to require boys to read books that meet high literary standards, even if boys find those books unappealing. The fallacy of this line of reasoning lies in the results:many boys are poor readers.
The consequences of creating future generations of boys who hate to read are far worse than the consequences of succumbing to the natural reading interests of boys. The first priority should be to get boys excited about reading so they will become lifelong readers. Broadening their literary palates comes second.
I actually had a strange reaction to one thing in the books. The stories revolve around a group of "half-bloods", or in mythological terms: demigods. Kids with one normal, mortal parent, and one god parent...as in Olympian gods, like Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, and etc. The kids are unabashedly referred to as "heroes" throughout the books. Just being a demigod means that it is their place in life to fight monsters and help their god-parents, making them naturally-born heroes.
But I've lived in a post-modern and liberal world all of my life. My high school, college, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, all of it was on the cultural and political left. I think I've been so ingrained against the idea of anyone ever being an unapologetic "hero" that my mind actually skips a step when I see the kids in the books being referred to that way. It's really a sad commentary, I think, that we can no longer simply accept the heroic without qualifying it and without suspicion.
In the end, Percy Jackson proves himself to be a true hero, and even the greatest hero of all the Greek myths. Nearly every feat of every hero from antiquity was thrown at him, and he survived "against all odds." But it is not only his fighting ability that makes him a hero, but two choices he makes in particular (neither is the one from the Great Prophesy.)
Choice #1: I've always felt one of the most powerful stories in Greek mythology was that of Odysseus and Calypso. If you don't remember: Odysseus washes up on Calypso's island. She's beautiful, she's perfect, the island is perfect and peaceful, he could be immortal on the island with her, no more war, no more odyssying around the Med for 10 years. But it isn't enough. He can't stay because he is human. He must strive and struggle and fight if he is to remain human and to remain Odysseus. So, he leaves her and the perfect life behind. In the words of Tennyson:
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,In the books Percy is placed exactly in Odysseus's place. He has the same choice to make, and makes the same one. There is a war going on in the outside world, he won't leave his friends to fight it without him, and he certainly won't leave the girl he cares about out there without him.
To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!
As though to breathe were life. Life piled on life
Were all too little
Choice #2: (Spoiler Alert!!) The gods, in the end offer to grant Percy one wish. Greek Mythology is filled with heroes acting selfishly, and the point is made again and again in the books that heroes are selfish and not to be trusted in the end. Almost every old hero is held up as wanting from Orpheus to Hercules. But again, Percy passes the test. When he is offered anything, he chooses to use his wish to help others...pretty much stunning the gods by doing that. But he's a complete hero, a superior fighter as well as a friend and honorable young man.
One of the kids we carpool with is a 9.75 year old boy, and he has been reading these as well and loves them. I've given copies to my niece's classroom as well. They are really great boy books. Full of heroism and sacrifice and standing firm against the odds.
I highly recommend them to anyone.
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