Letters

A fantasy fan finds Paolini's novel less than praiseworthy

For most of my 26 years, I have been an ardent fan of children's fantasy. I can remember many wonderful times spent with classics like The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander and The Dark Is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper.

So naturally it was with great interest that I read Bonnie Kunzel's article, "Hooray for Harry," in your February 2005 issue. Kunzel is very right in saying that more quality fantasy is being published today, and many of her examples prove her point. (However, I did notice that most of the titles were bestsellers, which means many probably know about them already anyway.) But by including Christopher Paolini's Eragon I feel that she immediately destroys her assertion. Granted, the book has been on the New York Time's bestseller list and has made its young author richer and more famous than beyond his wildest dreams, but is it a good story?

In fact, Paolini copied many of his themes and ideas from greater, and older, fantasy classics in the adult genre. For example, the name of his main character, Eragon, sounds an awful lot like Aragorn in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. And humans telepathically communicating with dragons? That was used—in much better fashion, I might add—by Anne McCaffrey in her Pern series.

Not only did Paolini copy many ideas, but his writing is atrocious. The dialogue alone belies his age and inexperience. Shouldn't children be given wonderfully written books as well as ones that are appealing and popular? Why laud a book that is merely a mishmash of ideas from other, much better books, when there are more original and well-written books for kids out there? I think we should desire no less than excellence from fantasy books for children, especially after Harry.

--Necia Velenchenko, Youth Services Librarian, The Whitman Public Library, Whitman, MA

Thank you for organizing the leadership Summit in March. I strongly agree with your suggestion to target such an assessment at the middle school level in conjunction with the library media specialist who could then teach and reinforce the information literacy skills. Such skills should be presented to students beginning in elementary school with techniques such as the "Big 6" skills.

An information literacy component in the graduate schools of education would target not only the master teachers, but also the administrators, whose understanding and support is paramount to successful programs in the public schools.

--Carla G. Howard, Elementary Library Media Coordinator, Natrona County School District, Casper, WY

America (The Book) by Jon Stewart was censored in Jackson County, MS, not Jackson County, MI, as was printed in the February issue.