FYI

Anita Silvey's blog is always worth checking out. Today's entry is on The Westing Game, a book I did not discover until I was well into adulthood and which I did not finish reading until I was a professional writing teacher and had to read because it was on a required list. By then, I was ready for it.

I have this reading rule for books that I can't finish when I'm told it's a book I will love:Three strikes and...wait a decade then try once more. The Shipping News is due for its final shot soon.

Do any of you have books the world loves and you did not? 'Fess up now. (And yes, my other one is To Kill a Mockingbird, but that's come up before.)

MarshaQ

Required Reading

Students enrolled in the Hamline MFAC (MFA in writing for children and young adults) program have a required reading list of 120 books to deal with in their first two semesters. This last residency we had a fun conversation about the list. It was great to hear complaints about a book trigger immediate cries of "But I loved it!"

Like or dislike isn't the point of the reading list. These books have been required because it's useful to be familiar with them, for one reason or another.

We spent part of the discussion compiling a list of titles that each MFAC students had found useful to his or her own development as a writer. Not many titles were on both the official list and the student list. The student list had many more recent titles, and it was heavily weighted toward novels.

I've already started reading from the student list and have just put Craig Thompson's Blankets on the top of my stack. Can't believe I missed this one. That's the best thing about teaching--there's no better way to learn.

The required list is available on the MFAC site; if anyone would like a copy of the student list, email me.

Try, Try Again

It was a hectic holiday period and now suddenly things are crazy quiet in the house. I'm probably unwinding, or maybe winding up in anticipation of the Hamline residency that begins on Thursday. Whatever the reason, last night I had a terrible time falling asleep. None of the books in my current reading stack caught my interest so I browsed the book shelves, finally pulling out Sarah Waters' The Night Watch. I bought this a couple of years ago, intrigued by the reviews and all the stuff splashed on the cover. I could never get into it, however. I tried twice, with several months separating the attempts, then shelved it.

While some books just get sent back to the library or dumped into the library sale bin, I've developed a rule for other ones that I feel I should like because people I trust tell me I should or because I've liked something else the author wrote or because the critical acclaim is just too loud to ignore. The rule is: Three strikes and ... wait a decade. This rule was developed for Annie Proulx's The Shipping News. I tried three times at decent intervals, then set it aside. After a decade I spotted it still sitting on the shelf and gave it another whirl. Still no go, but I figured that was a fair shot and I need never bother again. Off it went to the library sale bin. A couple of books are now waiting for their decade to pass: Orhan Palmuk's Snow and Marilynne Robinson's Gilead. And yes, I actually have the date penciled inside the cover of each one.

So last night was the third try for The Night Watch. And whadyya know, I sat up until three reading happily. No wait-a-decade sentence for this one.

I think the same sort of rule is now in effect for a couple of manuscripts I've been working on, at least the three strikes part. I'm about to put to rest for an unspecified time a manuscript that has twice been the focus of my attention, time, heart and soul, but nevertheless didn't quite get to where it needs to go. And I'm eyeing hungrily another one that's been waiting for my return. Maybe I've just developed writer's ADD. Maybe I've succumbed to the Grass is Greener trap that catches many a discouraged writer. And maybe right now I'd just rather write about winter in northern Wisconsin than summer in Minneapolis. Which is just plain nuts, but there you go.

MQ

'Tis the Season

Winter is here, as Marsha Q. reminds us, and I need to get cracking. My little boy’s birthday falls 5 days after Christmas, and given his large number of adoring relatives, that will mean an influx of presents. What he needs, really, is books—it’s getting to be time to put the board books away but that will seriously cut down on our nighttime selection, and while he’d be happy to hear the same five books every night, Mommy does like variety.

So, I’d love some suggestions of books to put on his list. The Hamline required reading list provided a nice guide for us to start building his library, and I’m please to say that he could now make pretty good headway into his annotated bibliography, if only he knew how to write. It’s fun to see him take to books like Make Way for Ducklings, The Snowy Day, and Madeline (Tonight I asked him if he wanted Where the Wild Things Are and he responded, very cheerfully, “No, it’s too scary!”)

I write novels because picture books are too hard, and watching what this almost-three-year-old takes to is an education for me. I’ve noticed how much he responds to language—both playful (Phyllis Root is definitely his favorite author) and lyrical, like On the Day You Were Born and The House in the Night. Unlike Ron’s garbage man, he’s not above a good llama/mama rhyme. Other favorites include Punk Farm (ask him what a cow says and he’ll reply with great convictions, “Boom, crash!”) The Best Pet of All, and Officer Buckle and Gloria.

The darker side of his library includes a vast number of Blue’s Clues books—I vaguely considered doing a lecture next residency on bad sentences using just these. We keep accruing more because we get so sick of the one’s we have. Somewhere, there’s a flaw in our logic but I can’t quite find it.

So, what other books should we have? We have to wait ‘til summer, after all, for One Pup’s Up.

Ellen Raskin

I'm getting ready to speak at an SCBWI retreat in Madison, Wisconsin this weekend. I was compiling a list of recommended titles relevant to my subject, which more or less is about linear/non-linear storytelling. One title was The Westing Game. Now I'm not sure that classic fits my list, but it did remind me of a wonderful article on the book I read last summer, and I wanted to commend it to everyone's attention. Daughter Number Three is one of the few blogs I follow and she often writes about children's literature. Her article on The Westing Game is the third or fourth article down. Enjoy.