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- - - - - - - - - - T A B L E++T A L K What's in a name? Readers share favorite baby names and their meanings in the Mothers area of Table Talk - - - - - - - - - - R E C E N T L Y Traumas in adolescent life You're a good man, Dr. Smurf Cracks A sardine's story The city of lost children BROWSE THE WILD THINGS ARCHIVES - - - - - - - - - - Mamafesto
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LET-R PLAY | PAGE 1, 2
Most children's books, however, are kinder to the written word. From the four March girls poring over "Pilgrim's Progress" in "Little Women" to Harriet the Spy, who spies on her friends and neighbors to get material for the novels she plans to write, children's books center around books and writing. Even the Sweet Valley Jr. High series, deplored by tasteful librarians across the country, features a literary theme. One of the twin heroines -- Elizabeth, the serious one -- makes friends and influences people by joining the school paper. In a similar vein, the heroine of "My Angelica" enters her bodice-ripper in a middle-school writing competition; it's so bad that it wins when the judges mistake it for a parody. Meanwhile, her best friend, a boy who has a huge crush on her, has submitted anonymously the other winning entry: a series of love poems that many readers will choose to read as parodies as well. By far my favorite entry in the genre of children accidentally parodying literary forms is in E. Nesbit's 1899 classic "The Story of the Treasure Seekers." In it, the six Bastable children -- Dora, Alice, Dicky, Horace Octavius (or H.O.), the poet Noël and the self-important narrator, Oswald -- attempt various strategies to repair their family fortunes. They try putting out the priceless Lewisham Recorder (one shilling; illustrated, sixpence extra). "Every paper is written for some reason. Ours is because we want to sell it and get money. If what we have written brings happiness to any sad heart we shall not have laboured in vain. But we want the money too," begins the "Editorial Note." A serial story follows, in which the children take turns writing chapters. Noël's includes the following passage: "So the hero, whose name was Noëloninuris, replied -- 'My blade is sharp, my axe is keen,/You're not nearly as big as a good many dragons I've seen.' (Don't put in so much poetry, Noël. It's not fair, because none of the others can do it. ED.)" In a later chapter, "the Prince, whose real name didn't begin with N, but was Osrawalddo, waved his sword," corrects an editor (wonder who?). Under "Gardening Notes," the children write, "It is useless to plant cherry-stones in the hopes of eating the fruit, because they don't!"; under "Legal answer wanted," they write, "A quantity of excellent string is offered if you know whether there really is a law passed about not buying gunpowder under 13." Edward Eager, a great fan of Nesbit's, paid tribute to her in a series of books he wrote for his son in the 1950s and '60s. He particularly admired Nesbit's magic books, in which children find a magical talisman or creature that grants wishes, allows them to travel through time, grumps at them and lets them dig themselves into trouble. In his delightful "Seven-Day Magic," one of my childhood favorites, his protagonists find a mysterious old book in their local library. Just as it should, the book grants wishes -- but it does so in a particularly literary way, taking the children into the world of a different children's classic each day. There's an Oz chapter, a Little House chapter, even a chapter about "Half Magic," one of Eager's earlier books. When the children use the book to visit a TV studio, it starts to bristle, as any book would. But things really get bad when they tear it in a struggle (familiar to every book lover with a conscience) over whether to return the book to the library or keep it for themselves. Lacking the book's final pages, one boy finds himself wandering endlessly through his own narcissistic adventure story; it takes all his siblings' courage and imagination to rescue him. In the world of children's literature, where coziness is as much a virtue as adventure, what could be more appropriate than cross talk among the books? They usher readers into a literary community full of gossip and loyalty. It's as exciting and welcoming as any sitcom -- and easier to get along with than many families.
CDB!
CDC?
The Phantom Tollbooth
The Ink Drinker
Francine Pascal's Sweet Valley Jr. High: Get Real
My Angelica
The Story of the Treasure Seekers
Seven-Day Magic
Better ead than uck New ABC books are breathing life into an old genre by making letters vanish, get lost and pop up in unexpected places. (01/20/99)
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