|
Nov 11, 2008
Bart King "Big Books" - What's the Big Deal?
I have reviewed both the US and Australian versions of The Daring Book for Girls and The Dangerous Book for Boys and believe that they have something worthwhile to offer. Encouraging boys and girls to try new games and activities and learn about new topics through fun and factual information in a format that they can enjoy on their own, with a friend or with their parents can only be beneficial, in my opinion.
I have also been impressed that with the adaptations of the originals for other markets, the content has been altered to ensure that local readers will find information relevant and suitable for the different lifestyles and common interests.
Great Idea Poorly Executed
I was looking forward to reading Bart King’s The Big Book of Boy Stuff and The Big Book of Girl Stuff, recently released in Australia by Scholastic Australia, especially after reading several positive reviews of the originals. I was, however, greatly disappointed with the tone and attitude of these books and have to wonder how they could have been so positively received elsewhere.
While their humour is greatly touted by some readers and the author himself, they seem to come across as merely mean-spirited. Girls are encouraged to respond to “mean girls” with flippant one-liners such as referring to skinny mean girls as “skeletor” or mean girls at the shopping mall as “hags with bags”. Boys are advised to perform childish practical jokes on friends and family such as making someone look like they have wet their pants.
The Australian versions contain little information relevant to their intended Australian audience other than the obvious change to British spelling. Many references remain irrelevant to Australian lifestyles and habits.
Better Childhood Handbooks Available
While some of the information is fun and younger readers will find information to interest and amuse them, there are much better options available. It's a shame that the fun and interesting aspects of these books are overshadowed by the amount of content that encourages immature and hurtful behaviour.
The Big Book of Boy Stuff seems to work on the assumption that boys are only interested in humour through humiliation or gross facts. For those who have sons keen to read “gross” stories, authors such as Andy Griffiths, Morris Gleitzman, J A Mawter and Dav Pilkey have plenty to offer. Girls can likewise find plenty of better quality books written specifically for the 8 – 14 age group.
Comments
Dec 6, 2008 12:24 PM
Bart King :
Ms. Whelan, I was rather taken aback with your assessment of The Big Book
of Girl Stuff and The Big Book of Boy Stuff. As a longtime middle school
teacher, the notion that I am encouraging hurtful behavior is shocking and
hardly welcome. I’m sure the 50 girls who collaborated on The Big Book of
Girl Stuff with me were not looking to write anti-social material. They,
along with my five sisters and myself, DID want to keep the book authentic
to their own lives. That said, I’d suggest that anyone doubting that Girl
Stuff has a consistently fun and positive tone throughout simply open the
book randomly a few times in order to scan the page. I’m confident that
they will find a book that celebrates life, albeit, with some humor.
As for Boy Stuff, I’ve read the entire canons of two of the writers
Ms. Whelan recommends, namely Andy Griffiths and Dav Pilkey (I’m an admirer
of both). And while my material may be lowbrow, it is also decidedly
low-bore compared to their scatological shenanigans. If I may torture that
“low-bore” metaphor for a moment, I did write Boy Stuff in a gratuitous
fashion. My primary interest is to hook my readers, and in my classroom
experience, the most reluctant readers are boys. So I’ll admit to being
pleased with even a negative review of Boy Stuff, for example this one-star
reader review on the U.S. Amazon site, starts this way: “Someone purchased
this for my 10 year old stepson. He was immediately engrossed. He couldn't
stop laughing.”
The boy read the book. Is my material
gratuitous? You bet it is. I am also immensely gratified to hear that the
boy read the book.
I cannot speak to the matter of how my books
were adapted for an Australian readership. They are distributed by
Scholastic, and I was not consulted on the matter. But I will add that both
of The Big Book of Boy Stuff and The Big Book of Girl Stuff pre-date The
Dangerous Book for Boys and The Daring Book for Girls. So whatever their
real or imagined faults, lack of originality is not among them.
And to me, that IS a big deal.
Sincerely,
Bart King
kingbart@comcast.net
Dec 7, 2008 4:54 AM
Susan Whelan :
Thank you for taking the time to review my comments Mr King. I agree with
you that your books do contain much that is humorous and/or simply
entertaining and that the works of Griffiths, Pilkey et al aim to entertain
their audience through basic gross humour.
Certainly the antics
of characters in the books of Griffiths, Pilkey etc do act in a manner way
beyond what is discussed in your book. Their books, however, are works of
fiction and never profess to be designed as anything other than
entertaining reads aimed particularly at beguiling reluctant readers,
predominantly boys, into picking up and (hopefully) enjoying books.
My concern with your books was that despite the many pages of
entertaining, fun information, they also seemed to recommend "smart
talk" back to bullies and immature practical jokes, amongst other
things. While the content is largely harmless and no doubt interesting for
young readers, I have reviewed and read several other books that offer the
positive elements of your books without these unfortunate aspects.
To ensure that my response to your books wasn't based on personal
preferences, I made an effort to show them to two friends who are more
liberal in their parenting style than I am with children in the target
audience age range before writing my review. Both agreed that the books
were interesting, but that they would not purchase them for their own
children, particularly because of the comments that were made about how to
deal with bullies and mean girls. They also passed up the offer to take my
free review copies, which I had no need to retain myself.
I
appreciate your desire and right to defend the books you have written and
have obviously invested significant effort to create with the noble aim of
encouraging reluctant readers to enjoy books. I hope that you will equally
respect my right to find your books less appropriate for the intended
audience than others in the genre.
Dec 8, 2008 10:28 AM
Bart King :
Hello again, and thank you for the thoughtful and civil reply. If I may,
allow me one more rejoinder.
I appreciate your attempt at being
even-handed (to sum up: "I couldn't GIVE these books away!"). But
let me re-emphasize that the books are written for a younger audience than
your "liberal" contemporaries. For a better analysis of the
books' merits and demerits, allowing a younger reader to have a look would
seem sensible.
As to potentially inappropriate content, my
guess is that kids are resilient enough to withstand any traumas that might
be incurred scanning The Big Book of Girl Stuff.
And if you
choose to do so, you may actually be able to give the books away!
3 Comments
|
