Intro., and a question

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Since intro. posts seem to be fairly common around here, here goes. I'm a children's librarian living on a curious little island floating just off the bottom of England. My hobbies are all ones the media like to label "sad": traditional folk songs, role-playing games, sf and fantasy, Morris dancing, historical re-enactment, writing, board games and computer games etc. (While I am not ashamed of these hobbies, the fact that the media labels them all as sad is something I rant about quite a bit.)

I read mostly fantasy and historical novels, and mediaeval and early modern history. I read The Thief 7 or 8 ago, and loved it. QoA I was less fond of, but when I read KoA last year, I fell madly in love all over again (and now like QoA a whole lot more.) As for other books, childhood favourites, all of which I still reread, included Swallows and Amazons, Rosemary Sutcliff, Walter Scott, Alexandre Dumas, and Tolkien. Favourite authors nowadays include Diana Wynne Jones, George RR Martin and Dorothy Dunnett.

Anyway, as if that wasn't far more introduction than anyone could ever have wanted, I also have a question. When you recommend The Thief to others, how much do you reveal?

I don't seem to have had much success in getting friends to read The Thief. With most books, I find it fairly easy to tell people why I love them, and explain the basic plot set-up without giving things away, but I find this next to impossible to do with his series. I'm so scared of giving away spoilers, that I end up saying hardly anything, and completely failing to convey my enthusiasm.

The "twist" at the end of The Thief is, in my opinion, a vital part of the genius of the novel, but I feel I can't tell any new reader this, because it's a spoiler. Even saying something vague about it constitutes a spoiler. "Just wait until you get to the surprise twist at the ending!" is tantamount to telling people the twist, since it makes them alert for it, and actively seeking out clues.

There are some books and films that would be pretty mediocre were it not for the gimmick of a twist at the end. I do not think that The Thief is one of those. Even if Gen had proved to be no more than he appeared to be, it would have been a well-written book set in an interesting and well-realised world. However, without the twist, I think it would just be a pretty good story. With the twist, it is – in my opinion - a book to fall head over heels in love with for ever more.

I can't remember what it was that "sold" the series to me, so that's no help. I read something about it on a children's book newsgroup, but the book didn't seem to be available over here. I mentioned it to an American friend, in case she'd read it, but she hadn't. She must have noted the title down, though, since she bought it for me for my birthday months later. However, by then, I couldn't remember what I'd read about the book, so I came to the book with no preconceptions at all.

So how do I "sell" a book when I feel I can't mention the main thing I love about it? I can tell people, straight-faced, that it's about a common thief plucked from prison to go on a dangerous quest, but that feels a little like lying, and also makes it sound like a fairly cliched set-up. I can wimp out completely, and tell people about the setting, but that feels rather unemotional and cold. Or I can hint at the twist, convey my enthusiasm... but spoil the ending as I do so.

However, everyone else here seems to be able to inspire their friends to read the book, so I'm clearly doing something wrong. (Probably agonising too much about it.)

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Makes sense. What you describe reminds me of an unfortunatel incident when I was in my twenties, and I watched with growing concern as the well-meaning father of my oldest goddaughter kept being sat down with the Narnia books. He had loved them as a child--they had changed his life--he'd worn out copies and had to replace them, but saved those cherished worn out ones, so of course his daughter must love them. But she didn't. She felt about them like she felt about school assignments--this great moral obligation. In fact, she gave up reading for a very long time (though the Narnias weren't the issue, it tended to be her other relatives who kept giving her seventies Problem Novels for birthdays and holidays, all of which her mom felt she ought to read as they were gifts. one time when she was staying with me for a weekend she said sadly that she'd read so many books with kids having lieukemia and being raped and so forth that maybe someone was giving her a message about her. Anyway, she turned heavy duty Goth as a teen, and then picked up books again--mysteries--in her thirties.) The lesson in all this for me was that discovery is an important issue for some kids. my friend had discovered Narnia as a boy; her daughter wasn't left to discover anything, she was lovingly ordered to read everyone's favorites.

So I've been very careful as a teacher. I never show any emotion, I do ask why a kid likes or dislikes a book after reading it, and then only will I admit if the recommended book was a fave. Some kids really do want to be introduced to books, they are overwhelmed by choice. Others love the adventure of discovery. But kids are not subtle about cluing one in to which kind of reader they are, so that's an easy call!

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

*cringes with recognition.* We have a summer reading challenge in all our public libraries over here, when any child who reads six books over the summer gets a medal. The most important rule of all is: it must be the child's own choice of books. It can be "too easy". It can be "trashy." It can be non-fiction, comic books... anything they like. We offer guidance if asked (e.g. "Who else writes like...?") but never pressurise, and never, ever tell anyone to put a book back. Reading levels rocket during the summer, since the children are - for once - entirely free to read purely for enjoyment, and not as a chore.

However, it can be hard to convince the parents. Many of them think they are doing their child a favour by snatching the "too easy" book out of their hands and forcing them to read a "challenging" book - perhaps one of their own old favourites, impatiently pushed on the child far too young. They can't see that, all too often, they're putting their child off reading for life.

Um... Sorry. This is one of my pet rants.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Nope. Totally agree. I do give very challenging reading in literature class, but that's guided reading, with me there, and lots of little rewards and so forth. Book reports, I refuse at that young age to require specific books. All I do is require a type--different one each month, with open choice in September and May--and let them choose. Left on their own, kids will often pick more challenging books than one might expect, and the kids who pick easier books usually have a reason for it.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

the more I read about this, the more worried I get. I mean, my dad read me The Hobbit in the womb, and my mother read me the Narnia books when I was young--I guess it's all in the way you go about it, and gauging your children's reactions.

Me, I'm currently planning on doing what my parents did with me (and whatever my future spouse, if he exists, wants), as well as throwing in more poetry.

I don't think my parents ever kept me from reading things that were "too easy"--it was more of a self-censure thing, where I didn't pick it up if it looked boring/too easy. My parents were more concerned with keeping me from picking up things that were too mature for me--kinda like babyproofing the house, only in this case, it was my mom's brain candy romances they had to hide. XD

[estarria.livejournal.com]

My dad made deals with me when I was little -- he'd read a book of mine (or several short ones) if I'd read one of his. The first one he did this with was The Hobbit, which at first I disliked, but once I got to the middle of it I couldn't put it down. I kept saying I'd just read one more chapter, then one more...and I ended up finishing the rest of the book that night. After that, he got me to read LoTR, and then Watership Down, which is still one of my favorite books. Of course, I was lucky because we had similar literary tastes, and I loved reading anyway, but still...sometimes it works out. The fact that he read my books too made it fair, and that helped. :)

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's certainly not the case that it is always bad for parents to enthuse about their own favourite books. It's often a really good thing! It just depends on how it's done. Some parents over-pressurise. Some parents force their child to read a certain book, and refuse to let them give up on it, even if the child dislikes it. ("No, you can't borrow a book this week; you haven't finished the book I got for you two weeks ago." I used to hear this all the time when I was based in a public library.)

My parents certainly read aloud a lot of their own favourite books to me. Mostly, they just surrounded me with books, let me wander to the library whenever I liked, and let me get enthusiasms as and when I wanted them. Because they were keen readers, they knew how reading works. A lot of these over-pushy parents aren't really keen readers themselves, which is why they get it so wrong. These are the parents who refuse to let their child ever read a book more than once; refuse to let them give up on one half way through; refuse to ever let them just relax with a nice easy read. They genuinely think they are helping their child, but they're actually doing damage.

[estarria.livejournal.com]

Oh, don't worry, I know what you're talking about...though I must say, I've never heard of parents refusing to let their kids get new books until they finished the old ones! I'm so glad mine never did that. (They also both love reading, incidentally.)

One of my cousins refused to read LoTR for years, because her mother loved it so much and kept recommending it. She's read it by now, and liked it (as she knew she would), but in high school, everyone told her she'd enjoy it, and she didn't feel like proving them right.

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

My parents were more concerned with keeping me from picking up things that were too mature for me--kinda like babyproofing the house, only in this case, it was my mom's brain candy romances they had to hide.

That's exactly how it is in my house too! I leave books lying around for the kids to pick up on their own, and hide the ones I think are inappropriate. They can get those from the library if they really want (I don't think I've taken a book away), but I don't need to make it easy for them!