Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Young Readers are Special
In today's Newport News Daily Press, Beth Kephart, a columnist for The Chicago Tribune wrote about the trend of adult writers writing for kids:
"While some might claim that the wild success of the Harry Potter series has raised the stakes of -- and the interest in -- writing for the younger reader, I like to suggest that something else might also be at work, something about the very hospitability of the young readers' mind. For aren't young reader's typically blessed with capacious hearts and souls? Don't they tend to welcome the slightly askew into their midst? Don't they walk straight into topsey-turvy worlds, hail the wraith, admire the ghost, listen with care to the talking tree? Young readers, by and large, care more for stories than for labels. They censor less. They want the writer to get it right, or so it seems to me.
Writers work with the imagination; they see a warm reception for their dreams."
Beth Kephart wrote what I have long known: young readers are special.
"While some might claim that the wild success of the Harry Potter series has raised the stakes of -- and the interest in -- writing for the younger reader, I like to suggest that something else might also be at work, something about the very hospitability of the young readers' mind. For aren't young reader's typically blessed with capacious hearts and souls? Don't they tend to welcome the slightly askew into their midst? Don't they walk straight into topsey-turvy worlds, hail the wraith, admire the ghost, listen with care to the talking tree? Young readers, by and large, care more for stories than for labels. They censor less. They want the writer to get it right, or so it seems to me.
Writers work with the imagination; they see a warm reception for their dreams."
Beth Kephart wrote what I have long known: young readers are special.
