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News, and tie-in books
8/12/06 18:23I got the apartment; will be moving in the first week of January, as the last few weeks of December are hardly an optimal time to shop for housewares, furnishings, and a new computer.
I find myself annoyed by the commercialization of children's books--how everything needs to have a tie-in book no matter how annoying and pointless, and how they get marketed to those who are least able to tell when something's annoying and pointless and a commercial disguised as a book.
There is, for example, a Cheerios counting book. It has one Cheerio, then two Cheerios, then three Cheerios, then four Cheerios, etc. There is an M&Ms counting book that follows the same pattern. There is a John Deere board book; it's about a tractor.
And they had to go and do books based on the movie "The Lion, The Witch, And the Wardrobe," when it already had a perfectly good book.
Tie-in book:
And now, the original:
It's the difference between cheese and Kraft Processed Cheese-Affiliated Product. I mean, there is a real book. Simplify the text if you need to, but it's a real book.
Mind you, I don't mind these books because they're stylistically awful. There are a ton of books that are stylistically awful. What bothers me is the sheer number of books we circulate whose popularity is due entirely to association with Disney or whatever; it's like books are not valuable in themselves, but just as extensions of real entertainment like TV and video games. And, also, that they're marketed at an audience often too young to pay attention when they're being sold something.
Yes, it does feel rather hypocritical for me to be a book snob, given how I do not have the time of day for those who disparage science fiction and comic books; and I had Disney picture books as a youngun and didn't suffer for it; and also I am a communist.
I find myself annoyed by the commercialization of children's books--how everything needs to have a tie-in book no matter how annoying and pointless, and how they get marketed to those who are least able to tell when something's annoying and pointless and a commercial disguised as a book.
There is, for example, a Cheerios counting book. It has one Cheerio, then two Cheerios, then three Cheerios, then four Cheerios, etc. There is an M&Ms counting book that follows the same pattern. There is a John Deere board book; it's about a tractor.
And they had to go and do books based on the movie "The Lion, The Witch, And the Wardrobe," when it already had a perfectly good book.
Tie-in book:
Slowly, the darkness around her lifted and everything was bathed in light. Then Lucy saw that the coat she had been touching was no coat at all but a green tree branch. She was standing in a forest... and it was snowing. There was a lamppost in the clearing in front of her.
And now, the original:
Instead of feeling the hard, smooth wood of the floor of the wardrobe, she felt something soft and powdery and extremely cold. "This is very queer," she said, and went on a step or two further.
Next moment she found that what was rubbing against her face and hands was no longer soft fur but something hard and rough and even prickly. "Why, it is just like branches of trees!" exclaimed Lucy. And then she saw that there was a light ahead of her; not a few inches away where the back of the wardrobe ought to have been, but a long way off. Something cold and soft was falling on her. A moment later she found that she was standing in the middle of a wood at night-time with snow under her feet and snowflakes falling through the air.
It's the difference between cheese and Kraft Processed Cheese-Affiliated Product. I mean, there is a real book. Simplify the text if you need to, but it's a real book.
Mind you, I don't mind these books because they're stylistically awful. There are a ton of books that are stylistically awful. What bothers me is the sheer number of books we circulate whose popularity is due entirely to association with Disney or whatever; it's like books are not valuable in themselves, but just as extensions of real entertainment like TV and video games. And, also, that they're marketed at an audience often too young to pay attention when they're being sold something.
Yes, it does feel rather hypocritical for me to be a book snob, given how I do not have the time of day for those who disparage science fiction and comic books; and I had Disney picture books as a youngun and didn't suffer for it; and also I am a communist.