As I finish up reviews for my December column and feature for curious readers, I have a couple of quick links of interest.
First, What a Girl Wants panelist and YA novelist extraordinaire Sara Ryan has a graphic novel deal. From PW:
Bob Mecoy at Creative Book Services sold a coming-of-age graphic novel called Bad Houses by artist Carla Speed McNeil and YA novelist Sara Ryan to Joan Hilty at DC’s Vertigo imprint. Hilty took world rights, and Mecoy brokered the deal with Ryan’s agent, Barry Goldblatt. McNeil, who will illustrate, is best known for her work on the self-published sci-fi Web comic Finder, which won the Ignatz for Outstanding Series in 2004 and 2005. Ryan wrote the 2001 LGBT novel Empress of the World (Viking) and its sequel, Rules for Hearts.
This will not be Sara's initial foray into comic books; check out her site for several stories. I highly recommend "Me and Edith Head" (a special treat to readers of her novel Empress of the World.)
Jenny D. linked recently to a review with a Columbia professor that really piqued my interest. Karl Kroeber recently passed away but his words still hold a lot of truth. A bit of the interview:
Why do you hate Disney?
Fundamentally, children can go on and do things, but they're always being controlled by adults, and with it goes this awful sentimentality which is a falsification. In some of the early [Disney] stuff, there was some skilful art.
Stephen Jay Gould wrote an article about Mickey Mouse. Trace the original Mickey Mouse from the 1920s when he was this tricky, rascally figure, right down to this bland, consumer-advocate. These people, they're not sympathetic to the children learning.
They're evil. If you want animated things, I'd take Miyazaki over Disney any time. Like Totoro.
What do you think makes for good children's literature?
Good children's literature is something that a child can enjoy, but an adult can too. All the good literature is of that kind.
And via twitter, Laurel Snyder (also a WAGW panelist) we have a hint of what she is working on: "My new book is about magic, divorce, seagulls, breadboxes, & Springsteen. Also, there's a cussword on page 1. You know, one of *those* books."
Springsteen and breadboxes - how could anyone resist??
Finally - what the hell was this teacher thinking? If my kid was in that class I would come unglued - and have some serious questions about just what he was trying to teach. (Via Bookslut who provides a graphic excerpt of the short story in question.) (I can't believe I was complaining about Thoreau yesterday. I guess I should be thanking Miss Waslewski for boring us to death if this is the alternative.) Poor kids. They could be reading so many other things that would help them grow up and be the people they hope to be. "Guts" is not it.
November 10
2009
09:02 AM
I'd like to see his lesson plan. I understand that his students are defending him, but as a once-upon-a-time-teacher myself, I know it can easier to be loved than it is to teach.
In the interview with Karl Kroeber, he says this: "The one kind of person I never have a chance to meet is an innocent person. You people come at 17, 18, corrupted beyond belief and I spend most of my time breaking down these things keeping you from being a good person."
So, I don't think that the students who read "Guts" were corrupted by the experience, but I doubt they learn as much from Van Voorhis as they might from a teacher like Kroeber.