Comments on: Thinking Back

By: Jonathan Hunt

Jonathan Hunt — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:35:18 +0000

Well, I don’t think authors have any control over how their books are used. If somebody wants to use A MONSTER CALLS for bibliotherapy–great!–but I’m not sure that was Patrick Ness’s intent. I don’t think any author purposefully sits down to write a bibliotherapy book, do they?

I don’t think the sentence you quote says that a book can’t be popular or didactic–but it just can’t be the reason for the award. Now popularity is generally considered a positive quality, but didactic intent is not. However, I’m thinking of an interview Roger Sutton did with Virginia Euwer Wolf in which they were discussing TRUE BELIEVER, the didactic nature of the book, and how the author can do that if they prepare the reader for it.

So, for me, either I never felt like SIR GAWAIN was didactic or it didn’t bother me. When you refer to didactic intent being a function of genre, are talking chapter book or something else (e.g. fairy tale, folk tale)?

Anybody think JEFFERSON’S SONS is didactic?

By: Eric Carpenter

Eric Carpenter — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 23:05:37 +0000

Since you mention popularity since it’s mentioned in the same section in the manual as didactic content.
“Note: The committee should keep in mind that the award is for literary quality and
quality presentation for children. The award is not for didactic content or popularity.”

I wondering were we place “bibliotherapy” on the didactic-ism scale. If A MONSTER CALLS isn’t didactic what about SIR GAWAIN? I remember being hit over the head with the message/moral in the latter book, but that might be a function of its genre. Don’t know where i stand on this but am curious what others think.

By: Jonathan Hunt

Jonathan Hunt — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 16:16:10 +0000

Never at any time while reading A MONSTER CALLS did I ever think that it wasn’t a book written for children and/or young adults, and I certainly didn’t think of it as bibliotherapy, but then maybe you have to actually believe in bibliotherapy before you start seeing books that way.

No, I never thought the mother was going to make it, and I don’t think most young readers will think that either. But I’m not sure they will all make the connection that the monster’s presence is connected to the death of the mother, at least not from the very beginning.

This particular argument is a difficult one to bring to the table because, on the one hand, it’s not a popularity contest and we are intently focused on the literary elements, but on the other hand, there is wiggle room to talk about whether a book reflects a child’s understandings, abilitities, and appreciations. It’s a fine line.

By: Mr. H

Mr. H — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 15:38:03 +0000

— Spoilers for anyone who hasn’t read A MONSTER CALLS —

I think in A MONSTER CALLS, it’s fairly obvious that the monster is there to help Conor with his grief, primarily, his guilty feelings from the very beginning. We don’t exactly know how it’s going to all play out (what the stories teach him, etc), but we definitely know his mother is not going to make it. Lots of subtle hints are given along the way, things the grandmother says, the dad coming to visit, reading between the lines of Conor’s recurring nightmare, etc. Conor picks up on these hints but is in denial.

I like that Jonathan brings up the seven stages of grief, which I kept thinking of while reading the book, but wasn’t able to see completely until it was finished. It’s interesting to see Conor work through the seven stages throughout the book, but not necessarily in a step by step process. They are all at work at the same time.

Denial – thinking the treatment is going to work, despite believing “the truth” from his nightmare

Guilt – over the outcome of his nightmare, wanting it to all be over, for his mother’s sake, to just move on

Anger/Bargaining – anger with his best friend, anger with his grandmother, unleashing his anger in school, bargaining with the monster

Depression – loneliness and the way he wants to be punished

Reconstruction – beginning to make sense of the monster’s intentions, coming to terms with his grandmother for the moment

Acceptance – going and seeing his mother in the end, holding her hand, telling her he doesn’t want her to go

I do think A MONSTER CALLS is brilliantly constructed and written, I just can’t get over the fact that I don’t feel like it’s a book for kids. I can’t imagine recommending this book to a lot of kids. I would not expect most kids to gravitate toward A MONSTER CALLS over BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA if we were comparing the two.

It’s been a long time, but I don’t remember BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA being this way at all. I remember the ending coming as a bit of a surprise. I wouldn’t call the ending of A MONSTER CALLS a surprise at all. Did anyone read it and actually think the mother was going to come out okay?

By: Jonathan Hunt

Jonathan Hunt — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:07:15 +0000

I agree that BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA is well written, but I would have found it boring as a child, and would have put it down long before the end. If I *had* finished it, then I would have sensed it as bibliotherapy, even if I didn’t know what the word for it was. As a fifth grade teacher, I taught the novel for six years, and while I was always lukewarm on it, I had a colleague who loved it, and loved to point out that it covered the seven stages of grief. Now it’s been months since I’ve read A MONSTER CALLS and I’d probably need another read to discuss it intelligently, but I didn’t feel like it veered to bibliography (or at least recognizably so) until the end–just like BRIDGE. Can you remind me again of how Ness announces his intentions from the very beginning? While I do like the book, I never had an emotional response to it the way some people have, and thus it probably doesn’t rise as high in my estimation.

By: Eric Carpenter

Eric Carpenter — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 12:16:44 +0000

Jonathan, I am curious that you think a young you would have seen BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA as smaking of bibliotherapy and therefore not gone anywhere near it. Yes, BRIDGE deals with death but it doesn’t do so until the end of the book. No where in the first 3/4 of the story do we have anything other than a very well written story of friendship.
How would you as a child have known to stay away from BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA?
MONSTER CALLS on the other hand, announces its intentions from the very beginning and I think those intentions might put off some readers early on in the story. (whereas with BRIDGE, if you make it all the way to Leslie’s death you’re not likely to stop reading with so few pages remaining.

By: Jonathan Hunt

Jonathan Hunt — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 03:24:18 +0000

The second half of BREADCRUMBS just felt like an obstacle course to me: simply a list of things that the Hazel had to experience before she could rescue Jack. I didn’t find it suspenseful and it didn’t really reveal that much about character. Did anybody like the second half of BREADCRUMBS?

I’m not sure how I would have responded to A MONSTER CALLS as a child. I think I would have liked it, especially in junior high. Although I like it now, I wouldn’t have touched BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA with a ten-foot pole. It would have smacked of bibliotherapy to me even at such a young age whereas the fantasy elements of A MONSTER CALLS would have kept me intrigued.

By: Sarah Couri

Sarah Couri — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 01:36:50 +0000

Mark pointed me over to this thread (I caught the earlier one, but missed this one). Having just wrestled my Monster Calls review into submission, I’d say that I think there is teen appeal (not gonna talk about appeal to kids because, well, I don’t want to step on any children’s librarian’s toes, and I don’t feel quite as confident about making that call). I can think of a handful of specific teens I’d share this book with — probably by focusing on the fairy tale elements of the story. However, since I’m on leave, I have no idea what those teens would actually say about it, and this is all, sadly, theoretical. But the teens I’m thinking of at this moment are all fans of fairy tales or retellings/reworkings of fairy tales. In some cases, I can also say that, well, they love a sad read, so…A Monster Calls qualifies again. The particular teens I have in mind, interestingly, all consider themselves budding writers and would, I think appreciate a story that is about storytelling and the power of stories to grow, change, and heal.

I also wonder if this is because we’re all adults reading this book? I know I read it and it broke my heart specifically as a parent. I wonder if that adult perspective gets in our way a bit?

Just thinking out loud here…I, too, would love to hear from someone who’s handed it off to a teen (or kid!).

By: Brandy

Brandy — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 18:51:04 +0000

I have now finished Breadcrumbs and really enjoyed it, but I felt the second half was not as strong as the first. Hazel’s character was developed well and her journey an interesting one, but the themes seemed to become muddled in the second half. I wasn’t real sure what the main point of it was. Not that I think it has to have a point or “moral” to work, but to me there were a lot of seemingly deep thoughts being tossed around with beautiful language that didn’t really mean anything, or fit in with the thoughts and themes being expressed in the first half. The two were never reconciled. The descriptions of the settings were excellent though.

By: Jonathan Hunt

Jonathan Hunt — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 13:33:36 +0000

Brian Selznick interview–

http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/?p=2228