Children's Writers Chat 11-14-00 Guest: Patty Campbell, reviewer/feature writer of YAs

Subject: Childrens Writers Chat-PCampbell

Author: writerbabe

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Date: 11/28/2000

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Children's Writers Chat 11-14-00

Guest: Patty Campbell, reviewer/feature writer of YAs

Tuesdays

9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT), Writers Workshop

Children's Writers chat - writers and illustrators of children's books meet for specific topics and special guest speakers, moderated by HOST WRTR WBABE & HOST WRTR CGaley, with HOST WRTR sUe & HOST WRTR Neely (Greeters).

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<HTML>Children's Writers Chat 11-14-00

Guest: Patty Campbell, reviewer/feature writer of YAs

WriterBabe: We're going into protocol now.

WriterBabe: That means when it's time for audience participation, type ? for

a question,

WriterBabe: ! for a comment, and wait your turn in the queue to be called

on.

WriterBabe: Type GA for Go Ahead (guests, too) when you've finished

speaking.

WriterBabe: My co-host Chuck Galey may butt in at will.

CGaley: (Hi!)

WriterBabe: Wave, Chuck!

CGaley: (waving!)

WriterBabe: Tonight I'm so pleased to welcome a critic, writer, librarian,

brainiac I greatly admire:

WriterBabe: Patty Campbell, who writes a regular feature on YA books in THE

HORN BOOK.

WriterBabe: Welcome, Patty!

Shorecam: Nice to be here with you all.

WriterBabe: Would you like to make any opening remarks, or shall I hit you

with questions?

Shorecam: Shoot at will.

WriterBabe: Okay, first of all, please give us your definition of a YA book.

WriterBabe: What are the divisions in the genre?

WriterBabe: GA

Shorecam: Wow! Nothing like starting with a hard one! "What is a YA book" is

a question that us YA

WriterBabe: (That's my forte--dumbfounding the guest!)

Shorecam: aficionados argue about all the time. I guess I'd say that a YA

book, or novel, if we're tal

Shorecam: king about fiction here, is a novel told from the point of

view--AND WITH THE LIMITATIONS OF

Shorecam: PERCEPTION-- of a person between 12 and 17. GA

CGaley: (Nice description!)

WriterBabe: Ooh, I like that--with the limitations of perception!

WriterBabe: Makes a big difference.

WriterBabe: I'm interested in your quote, "A paradox that emerged was the

tendency of some librarians

Shorecam: Yes. A coming-of-age novel told from an adult remembrance isn't a

YA novel. GA

WriterBabe: and teachers to reject 'dark' or 'cutting edge' books...as 'too

adult' in content and theme,

WriterBabe: yet welcome adult books for YAs with open arms."

WriterBabe: How has that attitude changed, if at all?

WriterBabe: What's your take on that infamous word "edgy"? GA

Shorecam: Well, "edgy" is certainly better than "bleak," which is what a lot

of uninformed reporters

Shorecam: laid on YA lit last year. "Edgy" means real, risky, honest.GA

Mach2 2: lynwritebk

WriterBabe: Has the attitude toward these books changed, Patty? GA

Shorecam: Whose attitude? Librarians, teachers, parents, the general public?

Kids have always loved

Shorecam: dark stuff. GA

WriterBabe: Librarians and teachers, as per your quote. GA

Shorecam: Yes, as kids' world is riskier, they need books that reflect that

reality, and perceptive

Shorecam: youth advocates and publishers, too, recognize that. GA

WriterBabe: Thanks.

WriterBabe: Because of new electronic media, kids process information

differently, yes?

WriterBabe: How has that resulted in new book forms and styles? GA

Shorecam: Interesting question. Yes, there is this theory which has been put

forth by Eliza Dresang in

Shorecam: a book titled Radical Change. Eliza says that people, and

especially kids, have had changes

Shorecam: in the way the brain processes information because of exposure to

electronic media. Instead

Shorecam: of taking in information in a linear way, from A to Z, we gather

it in bits here and there

Shorecam: and put it together in our heads, interacting with it and each

other. So YA novels like

Shorecam: Monster are starting to reflect that.

Shorecam: GA

WriterBabe: Please tell us who Eliza Dresang is, Patty. GA

Shorecam: Oh, shoot. She's an academic, but I have to admit I don't remember

where. Blush.GA

WriterBabe: For those folks who haven't read MONSTER, it's written in the

form of a screenplay and also

WriterBabe: uses a variety of graphics.

WriterBabe: Do you want to add anything about MONSTER, Patty? GA

Shorecam: Yes, It also has passages which are Steve's thoughts about the

crime and the prison and the

Shorecam: trial. These appear in cursive on grey paper, while the screen

play

Shorecam: appears in print on white paper and the two are mixed together.

There are bits and hints of

Shorecam: the story, but you can put together at least 6 or 7 versions, all

contradictory GA

WriterBabe: We should add that it was written by Walter Dean Myers, a

fabulous writer.

Shorecam: And that it won the Printz Prize last year GA

WriterBabe: For my mailing about this chat, I quoted you.

WriterBabe: Since you made some of those remarks, a number of things have

changed in the book biz.

WriterBabe: Let's talk about some of those changes.

WriterBabe: For instance, what are the new forms of multiculturalism? GA

Shorecam: The way diversity appears in YA novels lately reflects the way it

is changing in our society

Shorecam: We're getting stories where the characters are of many different

ethnic and racial backgroun

Shorecam: ds, or characters that have diverse racial identities. The

relevant thing for writers is

Shorecam: that you no longer have to "be it to write it" with this new

perspective GA

WriterBabe: How are publishers responding to these manuscripts? GA

WriterBabe: Meaning, are they actively seeking them? GA

Shorecam: There have been a lot of these

Shorecam: (I'm struggling to know what to call them)

Shorecam: lately by writers who are not necessarily "multicultural." GA

WriterBabe: Interesting.

WriterBabe: Let's talk about religion. How is religion as taboo in YA's

changing?

WriterBabe: What changes would you still like to see? GA

Shorecam: Well, first I have to say that your short story collection, I

Believe in Water, is a prime

Shorecam: example of what I would like to see. That is, QUESTIONS of faith

raised from many

Shorecam: different perspectives, so kids can wrestle out their own

spiritual paths.GA

WriterBabe: Thanks, Patty. I love guests who plug my books. LOL

KellyMilnerH: (I BELIEVE IN WATER, the collection from HarperCollins EDITED

by WriterBabe.)

WriterBabe: Thanks, Kelly.

WriterBabe: So, Patty, you feel that things have changed re: religion? GA

Shorecam: Nope. I haven't seen any novels this year that touch on the

subject. GA

WriterBabe: Oh, dear.

WriterBabe: Still a taboo, then.

WriterBabe: GA

WriterBabe: A few more questions from me, and then let's open this to the

audience.

Shorecam: Maybe. But I do hear a lot of buzz among publishers, willingness

to acknowledge the need.

Shorecam: But it's very hard to find writers who are theologically literate,

and when this kind of thi

Shorecam: thing is bad, it's awful. GA

WriterBabe: You are a reviewer. Please tell us how books get reviewed. How

do they nominated for

WriterBabe: prizes, honor lists, awards? GA

Shorecam: Books get reviewed when their publishers send a copy to the review

journal. Same answer for

Shorecam: prizes, honor lists, etc. I can't review what I don't have in

hand, and honor committees

Shorecam: can't consider something they haven't seen. So writers need

Shorecam: to make very sure that the publisher is sending out those copies.

Now, how does a reviewer

Shorecam: choose which books to review--that's another question. GA

WriterBabe: But even when publishers send out the books, they don't all get

reviewed. That's been my

WriterBabe: experience.

WriterBabe: So, how DOES a reviewer choose which books to review?

Shorecam: Well, I have to tell you that my office where I am right now is

stacked with piles o' books

Shorecam: everywhere, and that's only the 2000 season. And I only do four

books a month for Amazon. So

Shorecam: I have to be highly selective. Mostly I choose what seems to me to

be

Shorecam: important, and let's face it, books I want to read. And of course,

authors I love. GA

WriterBabe: Last question from me, then it's time for audience

participation. So, folks, start typing ?

WriterBabe: and !

KellyMilnerH: ?

WriterBabe: You've said that you think the National Book Awards nominations

are peculiar this year.

WriterBabe: Why? GA

Shorecam: Aargh! Peculiar is right. In a year when we had fabulous books

like Dreamland, Gold Dust,

Shorecam: The Beet Fields, they chose three YA novels, one adult book, and

one who knows what. All of

Shorecam: them are very obscure except Book of the Lion, which really might

deserve the honor. GA

WriterBabe: Thanks, Patty.

WriterBabe: Now it's time for the audience to have its say.

WriterBabe: Kelly, you're first.

WriterBabe: (Type ? and !, folks)

KellyMilnerH: Sorry I jumped the gun. Two questions, actually. What makes a

writer "theologically"

KellyMilnerH: qualified? And how did you come to review for Amazon? GA

PHeeren: ?

Shorecam: Challenging question, Kelly. To me, "theologically literate" means

a writer who has an under

Shorecam: standing and some background on ---well--theology, in a broader

sense than one's own persona

Shorecam: lbelief structure. In other words, somebody who's put some effort

into studying this subject

Shorecam: Second question: Amazon asked me to be one of their two YA

reviewers, I guess, on the basis

Shorecam: of my twenty-six years of writing about YA books and being willing

to stick my neck out with

Shorecam: opinions. GA

WriterBabe: PH, your turn.

PHeeren: Did young adult fiction start out in the late 1960s, after the

changes of the counterculture

Shorecam: Waiting

PHeeren: of the late 60s or very early? I am confused since I have two

nieces, both teenagers

WriterBabe: (Queue's empty, folks. Type ? and !)

BOEDEN: ~ © ~ © ~ 15 MINUTE WARNING ~ © ~ © ~

PHeeren: ga

Chrizmoore: ?

BOEDEN: Lost Marilyn

CGaley: WOAH! Marilyn got bumped!

Shorecam: YA fiction as we know it began in 1967, with the publication of

The Outsiders. Before that

Shorecam: there was something called the "junior novel" that was mostly

about pimples and the junior

CGaley: (Ummm... Chrizmoore, you're next)

Shorecam: prom, and was not serious literature. I don't think the

counterculture

CGaley: (When I call on you)

Shorecam: had much to do with it though. (She says reluctantly) GA

PHeeren: oh, thanks for the history, shore

CGaley: Ok,Chriz... you're up... ga

Chrizmoore: Patty, are you familiar with Armageddon Summer by Jane Yolen &

Bruce Coville? If so, how

Chrizmoore: does that fit into your hopes for religion taboos in YA? GA

WriterBabe: Whew! Sorry about that. Computer crashed.

Shorecam: A worthy effort. Yolen and Coville resisted the temptation to

demonize the minister, and the

Shorecam: two characters didn't accept the spiritual positions of their

parents, but worked out their

Shorecam: own salvation with fear and trembling. GA

WriterBabe: (Queue's empty, folks)

Chrizmoore: They did a great job of thinking and writing comapssionately and

openly. Thanks Patty!

KellyMilnerH: ?

WriterBabe: Kelly, go ahead.

KellyMilnerH: Patty, there was a big discussion about GIVE A BOY A GUN on

the YALSA list.

KellyMilnerH: Did you agree that politics held this book about school

shootings back? GA

KellyMilnerH: (by Todd Strasser, BTW)

Shorecam: Held it back from what? GA

KellyMilnerH: Wider sales, more reviews, etc.

KellyMilnerH: GA

LYPHIS: ?

Shorecam: As far as I know it's doing just fine. I think the real problem

with the book is that it's

Shorecam: not very well written. GA

WriterBabe: Patty doesn't mince words!

WriterBabe: Phyllis, you're next.

LYPHIS: May I ask you to talk about the book “Cruddy.”

Shorecam: haven't seen it. Tell me more. GA

LYPHIS: Oh dear

LYPHIS: Forget the author

LYPHIS: My bookstore said there was a big stir by young people about it

MaryP2000: ?

LYPHIS: over a yr ago

LYPHIS: It was by an author, columnist, humorist

Shorecam: Interesting. I'll track it down. Are you sure it's YA? I'm really

ignorant about children's

Shorecam: books. GA

LYPHIS: I hadn't realized that and took it seriously

LYPHIS: yes, ya

LYPHIS: 16 yr old mc

LYPHIS: about a teen feeling, having lived a 'cruddy' life

WriterBabe: It's by Lynda Barry, according to Amazon.

LYPHIS: and who goes on to write about her coming suicide

LYPHIS: which she doesn't do, at the end...

KellyMilnerH: ?

Shorecam: Oh, of course. Lynda Barry. I think she's brilliant, but

definitely adult material for older

Shorecam: teens only. GA

WriterBabe: Mary, you're next.

MaryP2000: Patti, you said you had to be selective in choosing books to

review. Do you feel you are

BOEDEN: ~ º ~ º ~ 5 MINUTE WARNING ~ º ~ º ~

MaryP2000: influenced by the covers in making that decision when you are

facing those huge stacks?

Shorecam: Sure. GA

MaryP2000: GA

WriterBabe: Patty, care to elaborate? GA

MaryP2000: So it is only "favorite authors, publishers, etc.?

Shorecam: I'm not sure I can. Just an intriguing, gorgeous cover draws you

in. GA

Jgregers: ?

WriterBabe: Okay. Kelly, your turn.

KellyMilnerH: Who do you see as writers who should be read by WOULD-BE YA

authors? GA

Shorecam: No, of course not. Fresh, new writers definitely draw my interest.

GA

KellyMilnerH: NO, I'm asking what authors you consider the best of the best,

instructional for new writers

Shorecam: Start with Cormier, then go on to Cynthia Voigt, Chris Crutcher,

Walter Dean Myers, Norma

Julisari: ?

Shorecam: Fox Mazer, I could go on for hours. And responding to that thing

about

Shorecam: reviews, remember that VOYA magazine has an its goal to review

BOEDEN: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~Sorry, TIME IS UP FOR TONIGHT.

Shorecam: everyting YA, and Librarians buy from VOYA. GA

WriterBabe: Patty, any closing remarks?

WriterBabe: GA

Shorecam: You guys ask tough questions. But it's been fun. GA

WriterBabe: Thank you so much for being a great guest!

WriterBabe: Yeah, we're the toughies!

PHeeren: great chat, writer and boeden

WriterBabe: LOL

CGaley: Thanks Patty!

KellyMilnerH: Thanks Patty, fascinating stuff.

Julisari: Thank you, Patty!!!

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