Kailey Bad

[moderator]

I'm personally not a big fan of books written by adults in the first person as a child. [img]graemlins/gulp.gif[/img] These books are written by adults who try to take on a little kid voice. They want to sound authentic so they tend to throw in too much lingo and other things, trying to sound hip to the current jive, man. [img]wink.gif[/img] They tend to stay away from words that are longer than a couple of syllables and not well-known to children, and may not explain things as well (the senses)...it's more like a diary writing, where quick, easy words are used with very little concrete description.

For example, if I were a kid writing about my school desk, I might say, "I opened up my desk and took out my pencil with a fluffy feather on the end." A writer writing about this in the third person would maybe write something like: "Laura studied the desk in front of her. The grain had been stamped on, unsuccessfully trying to convince its users that it was genuine wood. Students had carved their initials into the top, as if attempting to claim it for their own. She picked up the lid and reached inside for her pencil. She could tell she had found it when the maribou feathers on the end tickled her fingers..."

The Girls of Many Lands books and American Girl Today books are like this. First, I think authors get by with not having as much of a plot line to a story, because a kid's life is going to run pretty straight-line other than little day-to-day upsets. But it can also make for really boring reading. I think just one change--writing these books in third person--would really improve them, at least for reading as an adult.

Maybe kids like reading things that sound like they are written by a peer--I can't remember if I read anything like that back when I was that age. One AG series I feel that does this successfully is Amelia's--the author is very creative with it--including fun drawings and jokes.

Jec, thanks for your review. I didn't like Lindsey's book and it made me feel like I wasted my money. You helped me see that I don't want to read this one. I'm worried that American Girl is making the dolls for the sake of having a doll, and then not really concerned about the book as much. [img]graemlins/cry_smile.gif[/img]

<font color="#020176" size="1">[ July 30, 2003 03:53 PM: Message edited by: Melissa ]</font>

[JAdder]

Yes, it is called The Best School Year Ever very cute more like little short stories but wonderful I should check into the movie.