tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post3711935045196949354..comments2024-03-27T03:19:11.216-04:00Comments on Assistant Village Idiot: Boy's Book and Girl's BookAssistant Village Idiothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-4657749141243394152011-06-22T23:43:41.720-04:002011-06-22T23:43:41.720-04:00The whole idea that one is special tho small/poor/...The whole idea that one is special tho small/poor/despised/homely/young is a stock theme of fairy tales as well as of older hero stories in which the hero becomes what he is supposed to by setting out, meeting challenges, etc. Certainly not instantaneously. It's gratifying wish fulfilment but it's hardly a walk in the park. <br /><br />The thing that my spouse and I always disliked about the Harry Potter books and movies was the whole notion (also found in much of children's TV) of children lying to and deceiving adults, withholding information, sneaking around, doing dangerous things, meeting with people, etc. On the one hand, one doesn't want kids to be too trusting of adults (lest they become victims), but on the other hand, one wants children to respect the value system and rules of the adults in their life until they are adults themself and old enough to make their own decisions. In fact, in real life, kids who snuck around and disobeyed every rule of the adults in their environment would not last long (not to be a priss, or anything...:) )<br /><br />The best thing about Harry Potter was the special effects in the movies. Cool visually. <br /><br />I liked Lewis because he had some decent female characters (tho not perfect). I liked Aravis. Lucy was an insipid twit. Susan a bore. His witches were pretty interesting. <br /><br />Otherwise, I mostly read Boy books because the characters were heroic and were saving their country or serving God or loved animals or were wicked good soldiers or somesuch. I'm hard pressed to think (off hand) of a Girl Book I liked.Retrieverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09036341287285545932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-19238111280908887722011-06-22T22:05:28.712-04:002011-06-22T22:05:28.712-04:00http://ymarsakar.wordpress.com/2011/06/20/persever...http://ymarsakar.wordpress.com/2011/06/20/persevering-while-working-hard-vs-natural-geniuses/<br /><br />The whole "perseverance" issue is analyzed in depth here. Well worth a look.Ymarnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-79653015238555291212011-06-22T07:10:37.192-04:002011-06-22T07:10:37.192-04:00The prince-in-exile or you're-secretly-special...The prince-in-exile or you're-secretly-special trope is often derided as being simple escapism, or dangerously feeding egotism. (Can't quite tell whether you're doing that here, AVI.) But I think of it as an important recognition of a profound psychological truth. (Possibly even a spiritual truth.) It's true that we are special, and also true that others often don't recognize this. Even a very literal fantasy about being a price from a far-off planet can be a way of expressing this recognition.jaedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03328666344764784829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-60376687632672818562011-06-19T18:21:44.138-04:002011-06-19T18:21:44.138-04:00I like the Harry Potter stories well enough to enj...I like the Harry Potter stories well enough to enjoy the movies. (Unfortunately, I can't read the books at all; within a couple of paragraphs something about the writing grates on my nerves.) From the movies, I don't get a strong sense that everything comes easily to the heroes. They have inborn magical abilities, of course, but in their own society everyone does. Using them to gain an advantage over nonmagical people is understood to be dishonorable. Harry has something extraordinary, but it comes to him erratically, leaving him the rest of the time to struggle with his schoolwork and his duties just like everyone else. I like the fact that the schoolkids have some schoolmasters whose integrity they can trust, and others they can't rely on. They have to figure out which ones to give their allegiance to and sometimes have to work out very serious difficulties without much help, relying on their own decency and the ties between themselves. But they always come back to testing their code of honor against the standards of the teachers they trust.Texan99https://www.blogger.com/profile/10479561573903660086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-8462072674329289002011-06-19T16:10:45.572-04:002011-06-19T16:10:45.572-04:00I prefer the shounen or epic youth stories of Japa...I prefer the shounen or epic youth stories of Japan, modern or historical.<br /><br />Hard work, dutiful obedience to perseverance, and the ethic of never giving up, seem always to be more like the point of a virtue in Naruto or Bleach, and all the other plot stuff happens as a result of it, rather than it being the cause of it.<br /><br />I suppose I never liked Harry Potter precisely because it was not a fantasy that I wished to see.<br /><br />I never had Harry Potter read to me in elementary school so I often view Narnia and Harry Potter with an eye askance at personal bias. For I was read the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and I loved it back then. An objective assessment would require me to read both of them now, and I wonder what the results would be.Ymarnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-4412401533721141242011-06-19T01:27:53.303-04:002011-06-19T01:27:53.303-04:00As an adult, Harry Potter books remind me of the w...As an adult, Harry Potter books remind me of the worst and best of boarding schools and parochial schools.Donna B.https://www.blogger.com/profile/16771075314473811594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-85941996193904229902011-06-18T23:09:23.766-04:002011-06-18T23:09:23.766-04:00I see Lewis' point, but I also was very disapp...I see Lewis' point, but I also was very disappointed by real life in that I never stepped through a wardrobe door into a magical world. Or found a coin that would grant me wishes, even half ones. I really wanted to live in Narnia when I was young.Barb the Evil Geniushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04635449477605703171noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-66531729270693134232011-06-18T16:34:51.278-04:002011-06-18T16:34:51.278-04:00Mary Prudence Wells Smith was the author of many ...<a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=the+boy+captive+of+old+deerfield&btnG=Search+Books&tbm=bks&tbo=1#q=inauthor:%22Mary+Prudence+Wells+Smith%22&hl=en&tbo=1&tbm=bks&ei=_wj9TbL5DaL40gHN9dXUAw&start=10&sa=N&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=6455a52e8f48720&biw=1280&bih=830" rel="nofollow"> Mary Prudence Wells Smith</a> was the author of many books, including <i>The Boy Captive of Old Deerfield</i> and <i>The Boy Captive in Canada.</i> These books tell of the experience of a boy in Deerfield who was taken prisoner during an Indian raid in 1704. <br /><br />My 8th grade teacher read the books to us for 15-20 minutes before we began class. While she and I did not get along at the time, I now see that someone who would read to us had her good points as a teacher.<br /><br />I don’t know how these books fit into your description, but I liked them being read to me and my classmates. Also good for their New England setting.<br /><br />Overcoming obstacles is probably the theme of these books.<br /><br />I guess that in part I see AVI as my nostalgia blog.Gringonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-22657510475725901872011-06-18T13:59:19.504-04:002011-06-18T13:59:19.504-04:00I'm fond of Robert Heinlein's coming-of-ag...I'm fond of Robert Heinlein's coming-of-age stories. The teenagers usually have exceptional ability, but the story puts equal stress on how hard they work to be responsible and capable, which is presented as a simple assumption about any hero we'd be interested in. First their circumstances overwhelm them, but eventually a combination of luck and grit see them through. They also get separated somehow from adequate parenting at a crucial phase, a classic device in kidlit, from Bambi to Harry Potter.<br /><br />A classic wish-fulfillment device, as you say, is the hidden crown prince: the Ugly Duckling, the lost heir, the sleeper who awakens, and really the whole Myth of the Lost Pearl trope.Texan99https://www.blogger.com/profile/10479561573903660086noreply@blogger.com