(no subject)

[owlectomy]

Commented elsewhere, about the nteenth iteration of adults being asked for recommendations for books for children or teens, and recommending books 30 or 40 years old*:

It's not particularly surprising that most people don't have a better frame of reference for "what a modern teen might like" than "what I liked when I was that age"; it's surprising that it doesn't occur to them that they might need a better frame of reference.

*Not, I hasten to say, that there aren't books that are 30 or 40 years old and still engaging and relevant and marvelous. There is a difference between knowing the whole field and then recommending something old, and recommending something old because those are the only children's books you know.

Comments

[daedala]

Amen!

[deborah]

I've stopped, in most instances, responding to requests for book recommendations. Because I tend to recommend books that have been published in the last 10-15 years (on the theory that the parents in question don't know about them). And they look at me funny, and we have a long back-and-forth conversation, which ultimately leads to them deciding to buy Charlotte's Web, Which is what they had wanted me to recommend in the first place.

It's not just the "wouldn't you like to learn about the awesome books you don't already know about" part that bothers me. It's the part where they ignore me saying "you realize that the kid for whom you are buying this book has already received 15 copies of Charlotte's Web."