It surprises me, at times, how diverse my readers can be.
I recently received a few emails from an 11-year-old boy who read The Marbury Lens. I was, to be honest, kind of surprised that an 11-year-old would read such a book, which kind of reinforces my belief that we can't just lump kids into particular target groups simply on the basis of age (or gender, for that matter), which is the knee-jerk approach of a lot of adult literacy guides out there.
That's why parents need to read, too. Unless you want the Wii and X-Box to raise your kids. Trust me, they'll all end up being minimum-wage employees at the companies run by kids like that 11-year-old boy who took the time to send me some emails about his thoughts on The Marbury Lens.
And, speaking of 11-year-old kids, you should check out the video clip on Lady Reader's Bookstuff. The ending segment of the clip includes a little mini-review from one of my favorite young fans out there.
Thank you, Lexi.
You can see Lady Reader's "IMM" video here.
7 comments:
I was eight when I started reading YA books... The first YA book was about a vampire (no romance, thank goodness) looking for revenge and ending up beating her rival. Plus she found her brother in the end, which was pretty cool.
I learned of the most interesting things from books, like Perks of Being a Wallflower. Books my friends are reading now are books I read years ago, and when I mention this, they give me, "Oh my God, you were reading about sex when you were nine?" It's pretty funny.
My god. A parent actually reading the same books as their child? What's next? Actually discussing said book with your child?
Um yeah. It's called parenting, that thing you signed up for when you ...
Off to check out the video.
Wow. Lexi is awesome.
Okay. I have to clarify a couple of things, I think.
I am Lexi's mother.
When I read Matt's inital comment, I froze. I think I took it as an attack. Then he came back and gave her a nice compliment. (Thanks, Matt)
Both Matt and Tessa seem to have a different view on how I have things with Lexi. Maybe not so much Matt. Maybe not even Tessa, she is probably just giving her own experience and not comparing to ours at all.
Still, I want to explain.
Lexi and I do not read the same books. I will always pre-read everything that she does read, unless one of my close friends (w/kids Lexi's age) has suggested it to us.
Lexi is 11. I talk to her about everything. That does not mean that I allow her to read young adult books with sexual content. She knows what it is and what it means. She also knows why I don't want her to read it.
This is my rule:
I want her/anyone for that matter, to Love a novel, with passion, with everything in their being, as much as I have. To do that, one must be fully capable to process the information. If the person isn't mature enough, reading the book will have been for nothing, they will not understand it and everything will be spoiled because they will know what happened. So that one chance is gone.
So, if that made any sense at all, Lexi understands and does not bother me nor tries to sneak behind my back. She has not read The Twilight books or The Hunger Games (like most of her friends) she also has not read THE MARBURY LENS. (she hasn't even asked. Yet.)
She has, however asked if she'll be able to read STICK. My answer was, "I'll tell you when I've read it."
And, yes Matt, we do discuss the content of novels. It was amazing to do with IN THE PATH OF FALLING OBJECTS. (I was on the fence with letting her read that by the way) She was great, though. I even bought a copy and gave it to her teacher. (He is a 24 yr-old male with a brother in the Marines)
In reference to what Andrew said about kids playing video games all of the time, I got lucky there; Lexi has a Wii and doesn't hardly ever play it, nor does she play her Nintendo DS or use her FLIP video camera, she would rather paint or draw or write or read or make crafts or just be outside playing like kids do.
Um... yeah... Lady Reader... I don't think you're going to straddle the fence with Stick.
Lexi... sorry... you're going to be waiting on that one, my friend. I'll tell you right now.
But, your mom is still going to need her trusty box of tissues when she gives it a read, I think.
Just sayin'.
So sorry Lady Reader. I was being completely sarcastic there. Sometimes I forget that people besides Andrew and myself read these things.
I have two daughters, and I try to read everything they read, before they do if possible, but at least afterwards.
Andrew - I'm totally bummed I have to wait for STICK. My mom's all stocked up on Puffs. (They were on sale)
Matthew - Thanks, I've been told that I'm awesome before, but you live so close to me and you don't even know me. Dang, you're missing out on some pretty MAJOR awesomeness. Stinks for you.
Come to think of it, I am pretty awesome, huh?
(P.S. I'm Lexi Del Rosso a.k.a. Lady Reader's (Amy's) daughter)
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