This novel was excellent! The character development was exquisity crafted. I remember in school we used to learn about character development, we studied it as a formal thing to analyse and answer questions about. However, I approached this novel in a different way. Because I am begining more and more to appreciate writting as as art form, I approached this novel on my own terms. Ok Ok, it supposed to be a novel for children, well, I think that good writting is good writting, it doesnt matter who it was intended for.
The character development was good because the author did not rely on abstract descriptions. She did not say what Harriet was like, she showed what Harriete was like. The words thoughts and actions of Harriet, in context of other people and places, showed me who Harriete was. This style of character development is what made this novel stand out as special to me. It is easy to write things like -so and so is a wonderfull person, she is thoughtfull and always concerned about others. I mentioned that as an example, I am trying to show a standard way of describing people where we use adjectives. The thing is, a description based only on adjectives lacks substance, plus, the adjectives mean different things for different people. The author of Harriet the Spy did no rely on adjectives to describe Harriete. She showed Harriets thoughts, and Hariets mannersims, and Harriets reactions to situations. Through these concrete descriptions of what Hariete does I got to know her. I was able to connect and understand Harriet and formulate my own understanding of how she could be described.
This way of thinking, prefering concrete images over abstract descriptions is a practice I learned in Susan Ingersols creative writting poetry course in my third year of university. Ezra Pound said 'go in fear of abstractions.' Meaning do not write a poem that says ' they were best friends, instead, show the friendship, for example have one boy sighing, and then giving half of his firecrackers to the other boy. This example lets the reader understand the friendship on their own terms, lets the reader bring their own way of analyzing the event. When we say the concept only, that they were good friends, then the reader must bring with them their previus knowledge of what friendship means. The friendship the reader understands may be different than the friendship that these two boys expereince. In poetry I belive this strategy is called imagism, and it was a movement away from romanticism. ( I might be un accurate here), But I think that poetry in the romantic period for example was heavy on abstract descriptions, using a lot of adjectives to describe something, like- a terryfying meadow in the sultriest of nights where sulking spirits roamed and called with might. Imagism on the other hand would describe what was in that field, a wind, dark ripples on a shallow pond, ratteling apple tree branches free from fruit with only dying leaves, and a sound not sure if its is wolves or .... . Both strategies for writting are valuable, but I found in very refreshing, and entertaining to read a novel that relied on the concrete to describe its characters.
Something else that I loved about this novel was the presicion of language. It is labeled as a childrens novel, but I think it can be respected as more then a simple text for children. The hoonesty and bereviety of the descriptions moved the novel closer to an expereince of poetry than prose. I find that boribg novels are heavy on description and elaboration. Harriete the spy bounced along from one specific and sharply described scene to the next. This precision of language made the novel very satisfying to read. As Susan Ingersol said, a poet must be extremly efficient with language, not a word should be wasted, every word and even every line break should be intentional and a concentrated effort of the author, every word should have purpose and meaning. I felt the same way with this novel. The author wasted no space in telling me how I should react to a scene, the author described the scene presisly by what exactly was happening, and the emotional reaction was mine to have. These terse and accurate depictions of what was happening, that focused on the concrete and real, gave me stronger emotional reactions to the novel. I laughed out loud at the hillarity of the world within which Hariet lived, and I also cringed at the changes she went through.
For example. the scene which describe the shrik with red hair was brilliant. Never did the author mention that he was a physchologist, not give any commentary on what a physchologist is like or how this one should be viewed. Instead the Author described what the man said and how he acted, through these descriptions I knew what he was like and I reacted to him in my own way based on my own previus knowledge and feelings about how he acted. People who know about child pyschologists and counselors (of which I know very litte) know there is a cetain humor in the idea of active listening when it is taken to an extreme. An active listener rephrases what the speaker has said, and poses their own words as questions back to them (as one strategy) it is somehat of an unatural conversation because the listener is not adding any opinions or advice, they are putting all of their effort into drawing out the thoughts of the speaker. In Chapter 14 when Hariet goes to the 'doctor' the auther does not mention anything about this style of counseling, but through the ensuing converstation she shows the comedy and confusion of what occurs;
Dr. Wagner got up and went to a cabinet next to the door. When he opened it Harriet could see all sorts of games, dolls, doll houses, and trucks. She tried to be nice about it, but she was curios. "Do you sit here all day and play with all of those things?"
Wait til lher mother got a load of this.
He looked at her archly, "What do you think?
Do you think I sit here all day playing with these toys?"
"How do I know? You got a whole closet full of em"
"Don't you have toys at home?"
This was to much. "Yes,,: she shouted " but Im eleven."
"Oh." He looked somewhat taken aback, standing there with the monopoly board in his hand.
Harriet began to feel sorry for him. "Well," she said, "shall we play one game?"
Its the exchange between the characters that reveals the sillyness of the counselor and the intelligence of Harriet, the author does not have to explicity state these ideas, instead she implies them though the seen, and lets me the reader formulate my own understanding and reaction to Harriet and the other characters.
Throughout the novel, the author lead Harriete over great changes, but never once spoiled my imagination by telling me how to feel. I watched Harriete change, and had to justify her actions and analyse her changes by my own terms. Perhaps the way I feel about Harriet is different then they was another reader would feel, and in this lies the brilliance of the work of Art that is Harriete the spy. No person can be described in two dimensions. We all have characterstics and life stories, but it is not easy for a third person to define us perfectly and tell the world what we are like. In the same way, the author did not tell me exactly what Harriet was like, who she was, and how I should define her. The key word here is that she did not tell me, instead she showed me. THe author showed me what Harriet said and how she acted, and because of my observing Harriete it was up to me to react to her, i had to 'tell' myself what Harriete was like. I feel that this makes this novel multi dimensional, and most of all, it makes it honest. Because of this sharpness of description, efficiancy of words, and honesty of presentation that I rank Harriete the spy not only as a good novel for children, but rank it as a good novel (period).
(P.S. Another thing that this novel reminded my from my school days was the point of view. In this novel I knew the world through Harriets perspective. I knew her thoughts and how she saw other people to be. This was cool to appreciate this facet of the book by my own accord and acknowledgement, and not as an excersice in school. My other creative writting peotry teacher, Don Mckay, told us that we could do whatever we wanted in a poem as long as it followed its own internal laws. I feel like the novel is the same way, it followed internal laws about whoes thoughts I could know and what point of view people and places were seen from. Seeing the world through Hariets eyes helped my to love and sympathize for her, even at times when the rest of the world was against her. This crafting of perspective is another factor that elevates this novel to an appreacitative work of art for me. )
Monday, January 24, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Harriete the Spy Chapters 1,2,3
I have never read a book like this in my life! I have read other books that were supposed to be funny, like the adventures of Captain underpants, but while that one appeared obviusly tryng to be shocking, there was something sincere and surprising about Hariete the spy that made me laugh out loud, but also appreciate the craft of the writer.
I have read other funny books as well, almost exclusively Roald Dahl; Charlie and the Choclate Factory, the Twits, Witches, Esio Trot, the WOnderfull Story of Henry sugar, butt even these are not like Harieete the Spy. If Hariete the Spy was written today though, I don't imagine it would even get past the publishers let alone the sensors. IT is not, as we might say, a polite book. Which I think is part of its appeal, when Hariete is being shockingly honest about the people in her community, their stupidity at lying in bed all day, the meaness of their attitues, the foumbliness of their children, when Hariete is making these comments it is a shock. We are allways told to have such high standers of politeness. The fact that Hariete trancends these boundries, let alone has them printed in a novel, is an outstanding achievment for me to expereine as a reader, it is almost libereating to see a character like Hariete in a book.
Despite the apparent meaness of her comments though, there is something alluring and trustworthy, sympathy raising, about Hariete. She is the one character whos thoughts we are granted access to, and she builds up a feeling of trust in me as a reader. She has such a high regard for Tom, who is poor, she reflects at the causes of richness and poverty, and she wants to become a writer. It seems as if here mean comments are well warrented, she is protesting against the blandness and boring lives that people tend to live. In this case, Hariete is on a noble cause because she wants peopple to become fully alive, to shake out of their slumber and be exciting dynamic people. I feel like I can associate with her because of these reasons, plus, it is common to see the negative in people, instead of holding it in, Harriete gives it a voice. Perhaps there will be something I can learn from Harriet in all of her honesty.
I wonder how her relations with her parents, with Tom, and with Old Golly will eveolve. I know here book is soon to be discovered, and I have absolutely no idea how that is goin gto twist the story!
I feel like
I have read other funny books as well, almost exclusively Roald Dahl; Charlie and the Choclate Factory, the Twits, Witches, Esio Trot, the WOnderfull Story of Henry sugar, butt even these are not like Harieete the Spy. If Hariete the Spy was written today though, I don't imagine it would even get past the publishers let alone the sensors. IT is not, as we might say, a polite book. Which I think is part of its appeal, when Hariete is being shockingly honest about the people in her community, their stupidity at lying in bed all day, the meaness of their attitues, the foumbliness of their children, when Hariete is making these comments it is a shock. We are allways told to have such high standers of politeness. The fact that Hariete trancends these boundries, let alone has them printed in a novel, is an outstanding achievment for me to expereine as a reader, it is almost libereating to see a character like Hariete in a book.
Despite the apparent meaness of her comments though, there is something alluring and trustworthy, sympathy raising, about Hariete. She is the one character whos thoughts we are granted access to, and she builds up a feeling of trust in me as a reader. She has such a high regard for Tom, who is poor, she reflects at the causes of richness and poverty, and she wants to become a writer. It seems as if here mean comments are well warrented, she is protesting against the blandness and boring lives that people tend to live. In this case, Hariete is on a noble cause because she wants peopple to become fully alive, to shake out of their slumber and be exciting dynamic people. I feel like I can associate with her because of these reasons, plus, it is common to see the negative in people, instead of holding it in, Harriete gives it a voice. Perhaps there will be something I can learn from Harriet in all of her honesty.
I wonder how her relations with her parents, with Tom, and with Old Golly will eveolve. I know here book is soon to be discovered, and I have absolutely no idea how that is goin gto twist the story!
I feel like
Monday, January 17, 2011
Childrens Litterature The Three Questions
The genre of this picture book is what I am gonig to call an adaptation. For the story, you see, was borrowed from a man who already wrote it. The original author was Leo Tolstoy. According to the back flap cover, Leo Tolstoy is one of Russias most famus noveleists and story tellers. The three questions was a short story that Leo wrote. I do not know much about Leo right now, and in fact wished I reasearched more about him. I feel like the more I knew about the original tale, and the original author, the more that I could take from the adaptation for children.
The new author also brought in some other influence to his adaptation. In the explanation of the book the author mentioned that he brought in the influence of zen to his book. Again, I would like to learn more about zen so that I could elucidate more of the meaning from the book. I do notice in the pictures a kind of high forest chinese feel, perhaps this is where the zen comes in, in the art work.
The art work is one of the first things that struck me about the book, and in fact, the art work is deffinately my most exubereantly favorite great excellent favorite part of the book. It is water color paintings, but with a quality of color, shape and detail unlike in any other water color paintings I have ever seen. The bridges that fade into the mist, the himalayin mountains in the sunny winter, the posture of the boy as he flies his red kite. Even the wy that the light plays off of the characters, the water color paintings in this book are special!!
It would be nice to incorporate an art lesson as well as a religion or social studies lesson alongside with this book. The paintings and the sub narrative, or the backround of the book, make it a very rich and interesting read, if not for the story line, then at least for the making and origins of the book.
Luckily the story line is pretty good to. It is a book that leads to a moral. It starts with three questions, and in the end, through the story, we learn the answer to those three questions. The most important time is now, the most important one is the one we are with, and the most important thing is to do good for the one standing at our side.
(p.s. the paintings are so good I wanted to mention that again)
Thanks World
Happy Reading!
Adrian
The new author also brought in some other influence to his adaptation. In the explanation of the book the author mentioned that he brought in the influence of zen to his book. Again, I would like to learn more about zen so that I could elucidate more of the meaning from the book. I do notice in the pictures a kind of high forest chinese feel, perhaps this is where the zen comes in, in the art work.
The art work is one of the first things that struck me about the book, and in fact, the art work is deffinately my most exubereantly favorite great excellent favorite part of the book. It is water color paintings, but with a quality of color, shape and detail unlike in any other water color paintings I have ever seen. The bridges that fade into the mist, the himalayin mountains in the sunny winter, the posture of the boy as he flies his red kite. Even the wy that the light plays off of the characters, the water color paintings in this book are special!!
It would be nice to incorporate an art lesson as well as a religion or social studies lesson alongside with this book. The paintings and the sub narrative, or the backround of the book, make it a very rich and interesting read, if not for the story line, then at least for the making and origins of the book.
Luckily the story line is pretty good to. It is a book that leads to a moral. It starts with three questions, and in the end, through the story, we learn the answer to those three questions. The most important time is now, the most important one is the one we are with, and the most important thing is to do good for the one standing at our side.
(p.s. the paintings are so good I wanted to mention that again)
Thanks World
Happy Reading!
Adrian
Childrens Literature A grain of Rice
Hello World! I am here to write a delicious blog for you all. It is a reflection upon my personal feelings. You see, I have read a book, and thanks to my decoding skills and my ability to understand language, the book I read had an impact upon me. I basicly broke the code of the alphabet and the english lexicon, and using the meaning it symbolised combined with my previus knoweledge of the world, I interpreted meaning from the book.
What kind of meaning you may ask? Well, the story was one of character, it showed the integrity, perservearence, humility and intelligence of a young man. Lo, how I wish I could emblazen those attributes across my own soul's being.
The boy was in love, and the apex of his goals was to failry gain a princesses hand in marriage. Now, while I do want to get married someday, I feel like I connected to the story by more then just that one goal. You see, as the boy pursued his goal, there was something speackial about his characterestics, his personality.
I hope that as I pursue my goals in life I to can have a strong and noble personality. That is why I like this book. It shows a good person.
At first I was worried that the story line was to classical, that it was an archetyple tale of a boy trying to win the hand of a princess. This was true, however, the story redeemed itself. The boys admirable quality, plus the light humor of the book, and the suspence of the plot more than made up for the old fashioned story line. The book did not depend on the old story line, it used it as a framework, and off of that framework a beutifull tale was developed.
I am not exactly sure what type of genre this is, but i think I will call it a classical narrative.
The drawings were pencil sketches done by the author herself. They simply expanded the story, they did not add much depth, but they did a great job of illustrating some of the details. For many of the details were ancient chinese objects, like special plates, ceramics, math tools, and even rosewood trunks carried by the backs of elephants. I think the drawings were very helpfull to new readers because if there was some object they did not already know aboutm, then they could imagine it easily by lookin gat the pictures.
Thats then end of the blog for today, overall, great book because it takes an old story line and pumps some good role model charactereistics into it. Furthermore, I think I will use this book in a math lesson that I am making about algebra.
Thanks World!
Happy Reading
Adrian
What kind of meaning you may ask? Well, the story was one of character, it showed the integrity, perservearence, humility and intelligence of a young man. Lo, how I wish I could emblazen those attributes across my own soul's being.
The boy was in love, and the apex of his goals was to failry gain a princesses hand in marriage. Now, while I do want to get married someday, I feel like I connected to the story by more then just that one goal. You see, as the boy pursued his goal, there was something speackial about his characterestics, his personality.
I hope that as I pursue my goals in life I to can have a strong and noble personality. That is why I like this book. It shows a good person.
At first I was worried that the story line was to classical, that it was an archetyple tale of a boy trying to win the hand of a princess. This was true, however, the story redeemed itself. The boys admirable quality, plus the light humor of the book, and the suspence of the plot more than made up for the old fashioned story line. The book did not depend on the old story line, it used it as a framework, and off of that framework a beutifull tale was developed.
I am not exactly sure what type of genre this is, but i think I will call it a classical narrative.
The drawings were pencil sketches done by the author herself. They simply expanded the story, they did not add much depth, but they did a great job of illustrating some of the details. For many of the details were ancient chinese objects, like special plates, ceramics, math tools, and even rosewood trunks carried by the backs of elephants. I think the drawings were very helpfull to new readers because if there was some object they did not already know aboutm, then they could imagine it easily by lookin gat the pictures.
Thats then end of the blog for today, overall, great book because it takes an old story line and pumps some good role model charactereistics into it. Furthermore, I think I will use this book in a math lesson that I am making about algebra.
Thanks World!
Happy Reading
Adrian
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