tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046320545497573335.post3568702977160338860..comments2024-03-10T16:42:34.106-04:00Comments on Collecting Children's Books: Brunching During the OlympicsPeter D. Sierutahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301507180150710089noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046320545497573335.post-40642279703589359342010-02-25T15:27:38.405-05:002010-02-25T15:27:38.405-05:00Round-up of responses:
Hi Venus:
What a bummer a...Round-up of responses:<br /><br />Hi Venus:<br /><br />What a bummer about the Olympics books. I was hoping the Games would spark some interest in kids.<br /><br />Thanks for your note,<br /><br />Peter<br /><br />Hi Laura,<br /><br />I just wrote a blog based on your "sick girl" comments. Thanks for giving me the inspiration. ...Now I need to read SKATING SHOES!<br /><br />Peter<br /><br />Hi Caroline,<br /><br />I vaguely remember the Silver Blades series. The hockey player/skater book reminds me of the old movie CUTTING EDGE.<br /><br />Thanks for commenting!<br /><br />Peter<br /><br />Hi JP,<br /><br />Thanks for your kind comments; I'm honored you read this blog. I've been mulling over a story idea lately...but it has a spunky 2nd/3rd grade girl in it and now I'm thinking, "Hmmm...was I channeling Ramona here? I hope not!" I wasn't interested in the Patti Smith memoir before, but your comments have got me intrigued, so I will try to track it down She spent the last couple decades living here in the Detroit area, but I never saw her around....<br /><br />Thanks again,<br /><br />Peter<br /><br />Hi CLM,<br /><br />I never heard of SCRUBS ON SKATES, but will track it down, having heard your enthusiastic reaction to it!<br /><br />Thanks,<br /><br />Peter <br /><br />Hi Bybee,<br /><br />I don't know SILVER SEVEN, but I just looked it up and you're right: Whitman. The author is Rita Ritchie. I'll have to track it down. Funny how even the dimestore books stick with us after all these years!<br /><br />Thanks again,<br /><br />Peter<br /><br />Hi Chris,<br /><br />Thanks for your comments. You've given me a blog idea -- adult novel that children's book fans would enjoy. Look for it in the future. <br /><br />Thansk so much,<br /><br />PeterPeter D. Sierutahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09301507180150710089noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046320545497573335.post-12894034761137675892010-02-25T10:24:56.426-05:002010-02-25T10:24:56.426-05:00"I come away from these books thinking: '..."I come away from these books thinking: 'Affairs, adultery, death, crumbling marriages, affairs, adultery, death....'<br /><br />Is this what adult books are all about???<br /><br />After having read a good number of the Pulitzer winners, it does seem that way.<br /><br />One unhappy marriage after another, yet another affair, another death...they all seem the same."<br />Yes- with very few exceptions. I don't read children's books exclusively, but it has to be an exceptional adult book to hold my interest.chris in nynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046320545497573335.post-80746842613331200932010-02-24T02:03:53.189-05:002010-02-24T02:03:53.189-05:00I remember one of those dime-store girls' book...I remember one of those dime-store girls' books (published by Whitman?) called The Silver Seven. The protaganist (Sandra?) wants to skate competitively, but just as she's about to go for her seventh level, her family moves to a place with no indoor skating rink and she's got to skate out on a pond with hockey players and casual skaters crashing into her.Bybeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10061186489010154661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046320545497573335.post-588041420013054822010-02-23T12:44:47.155-05:002010-02-23T12:44:47.155-05:00You might consider Scrubs on Skates, first in a fo...You might consider Scrubs on Skates, first in a four book series by hockey writer Scott Young (father of Neil), which was a favorite of mine growing up. It is about a brother and sister who are redistricted from the renowned, upscale public high school their father had attended to a new school with more of an immigrant student body. Pete isn't sure at first whether it's worth his time to play on the new school's hockey team with the "scrubs" and has to change his attitude and learn to appreciate those from different ethnic backgrounds. The hockey scenes are great! I loved reading this book to my siblings and recommending it to reluctant readers.CLMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03595294217111602231noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046320545497573335.post-30501455785798242912010-02-22T09:59:00.606-05:002010-02-22T09:59:00.606-05:00Peter, love your blog, that great conversational t...Peter, love your blog, that great conversational tone you strike, your alert mind, such good writing. I can't help but want to respond at different times, interject a comment, but usually just sit back and scroll.<br /><br />I'm with you on the Salinger influence. It's pretty pervasive, and yet at the same time seems authentic. The voice is so powerful, as a writer it's hard not to feel it's sway, the way the moon effects the tides below. Personally, I don't see the same mutinous spirit in kids these days as I did back in the day (I'm 49), or felt myself. Where's the rebellion? My hope (and sense) is that it's just under the surface, a fuse unlit. I mean: how can you be a kid and not carry the Holden gene?<br /><br />I don't know if you've written about it, but I'd pair "Catcher" with "Ramona" as the other most-copied title. Boy, am I ever sick of yet another series of books based around a spunky 2nd-3rd grade girl character who says the most darling things. There's just so much preciousness in these knock-offs, don't you think? I realize that publishers drive this, send the message out to agents and writers that they are focused on the Junie B. Jones market, actively seeking manuscripts that take aim at that target. So writers will fall in line, since that's where the dam is weakest. How to break into publishing? Ripping off the bestseller list might be the surest path of all. At the same time, it doesn't make any of these new series inauthentic, maybe just too familiar. <br /><br />I remember talking to Johanna Cole about children's books, and why she preferred them over the adult variety. In a word, hope. She felt there was always hopefulness in children's books, and I think distinction is largely correct, despite the dystopian trends. (Or is that part of it?)<br /><br />On a similar note, I loved every second of Patti Smith's new memoir, "Just Kids," in part because she captures that budding, unfolding, opening moment of self-realization when the world offered a sea of possibilities. A book for dreamers.<br /><br />BTW, I LOVE the Rabbit books -- consider it one of the great achievements in American literature, spanning four decades, etc. <br /><br />Sorry for rambling.<br /><br />JPJames Prellerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01342728812342563278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046320545497573335.post-57830744303713311762010-02-21T22:41:16.779-05:002010-02-21T22:41:16.779-05:00In the 90s there was a figure skating series calle...In the 90s there was a figure skating series called Silver Blades that featured a number of mostly female skaters in their early-to-mid teens who wanted to compete at the Olympic games. At the beginning of the series they competed in mostly regional competitions, but I believe some of the later books do actually feature an Olympic competition. I also have a fondness for the book Ice Dancing by Nicholas Walker, a British book about the pairing of a ballet dancer and a hockey player.Carolinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10511914877644410598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046320545497573335.post-84758092717800440662010-02-21T19:24:23.318-05:002010-02-21T19:24:23.318-05:00For Olympics this week, I re-read White Boots (aka...For Olympics this week, I re-read White Boots (aka Skating Shoes) by Noel Streatfeild. Great read! A sickly girl (not a character you see much in novels these days, is it?) starts skating to exercise and regain her good health during a London winter. Her family is charming.LaurieA-Bhttp://sixboxesofbooks.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046320545497573335.post-33150318759750411122010-02-21T17:17:18.296-05:002010-02-21T17:17:18.296-05:00I made an Olympics book display at my bookstore, a...I made an Olympics book display at my bookstore, and not a single one of those books has been bought yet. It kind of makes me sad. Good thing about working at a bookstore was that I snagged our last copies of When You Reach Me and The Lion and the Mouse, pre-medal-stickers. Did you know they are making a movie of Wimpy Kid? Not sure how I feel about it, but I do love the information/tribute to SallingerAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02066282166494052315noreply@blogger.com