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owlectomyI am actually a bit upset that there now exists a middle grade version of Garth Stein's "The Art of Racing In The Rain."
1) There aren't NEARLY enough children's books where the dog dies at the end, am I right?
2) "That which we manifest is before us; we are the creators of our own destiny," including the part where the main human character's wife DIES OF BRAIN CANCER. IT IS HER FAULT.
I don't think "If you die of brain cancer, it is your own fault!" is the lesson that we ought to be teaching our children. I guess that makes me a bit of a radical.
3) The narrative is immensely self-serving. I shouldn't say self-serving, because it's not the narrator, the dog, who is served by the narrative. It's Denny, the dog's owner, who is so darn perfect that none of the awful things that happen to him in the course of the story are his fault. This is not exactly rare among middle-grade books, but I have trouble figuring out why a middle-grade reader would care about the awesomeness of a dude old enough to be that reader's father.
4) The largest self-serving aspect of the narrative is this: The main human character's wife dies of brain cancer, after which begins a custody battle where the wife's parents try to get custody of their grandchild.
To be certain, this kind of stuff does happen in real life. However, I think there are a lot of parents who try really hard to keep things amicable for the sake of their children when they're getting divorced, and... if I were a parent, I don't think I'd want my kid to have to worry about being at the center of a huge custody dispute. If I were a kid, I think I'd find that really upsetting. I almost find it upsetting in a way that I don't find it upsetting when a parent dies; when you want to trust the adults in your life, having to contemplate that your fate is being decided by ridiculous petty selfishness is kind of horrible.
5) So get this: there's a bit where Denny, the main human character, is driving his teenage niece or cousin or something home from an event, and the niece or cousin or something comes on to him, and he doesn't do anything because he's such an awesome guy, but the niece or cousin says that he came on to her, for reasons I can't quite fathom, and the grandparents use that to try to prove Denny shouldn't have custody of his daughter.
I don't know to what extent this episode made it into the children's version. Disregarding all thoughts of whether it's "appropriate" for children or not: how many children in the target audience (this is a middle-grade book, remember, not a YA) actually contemplate what would happen if they get falsely accused of sexual assault? Is this something that's likely to be on their radar as a relevant concern?
There are so many wonderful middle-grade dog books! In some of them, the dog even survives to the end. The book version of 101 Dalmatians deserves to be better known; there's a new edition of Jim Kjelgaard's Big Red, and I adored all his animal stories when I was young. There are Jean Little's dog books. So it astonishes me that someone thought it was a good idea to make a children's version of a fairly adult narrative that's more philosophy/self-help than actual literature... and whose philosophy/self-help is cheap and horrible and The Secret-ish.
1) There aren't NEARLY enough children's books where the dog dies at the end, am I right?
2) "That which we manifest is before us; we are the creators of our own destiny," including the part where the main human character's wife DIES OF BRAIN CANCER. IT IS HER FAULT.
I don't think "If you die of brain cancer, it is your own fault!" is the lesson that we ought to be teaching our children. I guess that makes me a bit of a radical.
3) The narrative is immensely self-serving. I shouldn't say self-serving, because it's not the narrator, the dog, who is served by the narrative. It's Denny, the dog's owner, who is so darn perfect that none of the awful things that happen to him in the course of the story are his fault. This is not exactly rare among middle-grade books, but I have trouble figuring out why a middle-grade reader would care about the awesomeness of a dude old enough to be that reader's father.
4) The largest self-serving aspect of the narrative is this: The main human character's wife dies of brain cancer, after which begins a custody battle where the wife's parents try to get custody of their grandchild.
To be certain, this kind of stuff does happen in real life. However, I think there are a lot of parents who try really hard to keep things amicable for the sake of their children when they're getting divorced, and... if I were a parent, I don't think I'd want my kid to have to worry about being at the center of a huge custody dispute. If I were a kid, I think I'd find that really upsetting. I almost find it upsetting in a way that I don't find it upsetting when a parent dies; when you want to trust the adults in your life, having to contemplate that your fate is being decided by ridiculous petty selfishness is kind of horrible.
5) So get this: there's a bit where Denny, the main human character, is driving his teenage niece or cousin or something home from an event, and the niece or cousin or something comes on to him, and he doesn't do anything because he's such an awesome guy, but the niece or cousin says that he came on to her, for reasons I can't quite fathom, and the grandparents use that to try to prove Denny shouldn't have custody of his daughter.
I don't know to what extent this episode made it into the children's version. Disregarding all thoughts of whether it's "appropriate" for children or not: how many children in the target audience (this is a middle-grade book, remember, not a YA) actually contemplate what would happen if they get falsely accused of sexual assault? Is this something that's likely to be on their radar as a relevant concern?
There are so many wonderful middle-grade dog books! In some of them, the dog even survives to the end. The book version of 101 Dalmatians deserves to be better known; there's a new edition of Jim Kjelgaard's Big Red, and I adored all his animal stories when I was young. There are Jean Little's dog books. So it astonishes me that someone thought it was a good idea to make a children's version of a fairly adult narrative that's more philosophy/self-help than actual literature... and whose philosophy/self-help is cheap and horrible and The Secret-ish.
(no subject)
9/12/11 15:13 (UTC)(no subject)
9/12/11 16:44 (UTC)I will not be getting that, ever. Using a custody battle and brain cancer to explore someone's manpain would probably send me ballistic.