Web Gems: Selections from SLJ.com
By Staff -- School Library Journal, 8/1/2007
Marc Aronson/Nonfiction Matters
I just spent a very happy hour at my local library. John W. Glenn and I met with some 4-5th graders and a few adults to talk about our forthcoming book The World Made New. The neat part was the enthusiasm from both the kids and the adults, including an elementary school librarian and an assistant principal—for new ways of thinking about history. Which leads to the problem—as I’ve said here and many of you have commented in your posts and in private emails—schools select safe and familiar textbooks, chain stores are not interested in nonfiction, many parents who buy books for their kids look for novels...
I suspect that the very size of the problem is the beginning of the solution. That is, the general ignorance of and aversion to nonfiction is so widespread that it is ripe to be toppled. What I felt from the crowd today—and I’ve seen in other similar gatherings is…a craving that is all the stronger because people didn’t even realize they had it—they simply did not know that nonfiction could come to them in exciting and new ways. I suspect that we are in the position of a Maoist revolutionary movement: we have to take the countryside—all of the local libraries and schools we can reach—so that the perception of what nonfiction can be grows as a kind of groundswell. As we get that message across, we create a revolution of rising expectations—people know that nonfiction can offer more, so they demand more—they can recognize what is wrong with the mix of textbooks that have no narrative power and reading lists dominated by fiction.—July 13
Elizabeth Bird/A Fuse #8 Production
Click: One Novel, Ten Authors by Linda Sue Park and others. Arthur A. Levine (a Scholastic imprint). $16.99.
A short story collection? Nothing in those three little words makes my heart beat any faster. Been there. Read that. Okay, so how about a short story collection involving big names like Linda Sue Park, Nick Hornby, Gregory Maguire, Roddy Doyle, and others? Again, nothing too new, but now you’ve piqued my interest a little. I’m warily sniffing about the idea. Finally, the capper. It’s not just a short story collection. It’s a bunch of stories that begin with a single tale and then branch off into a number of different directions. With that, my friends, I am sold on the idea. But wait, there’s more! What if the money from this book went to Amnesty International? If the writing were halfway decent you wouldn’t be able to tear me away from the book, I suppose. The good news? Not only is the writing decent, and not only are the stories moving, but the book holds together shockingly well. Shockingly.—July 13.
