In my article Maggie Stiefvater says that dystopian fiction is an escape for teens not because they make a connection between the society they live in and the society the characters live in, but because they are wanting a simple story of good vs. evil in contrast to their own world where “evil” is hard to define. While I agree with Stiefvater’s idea, I believe this is because young readers are attracted to the stories because the character takes agency of their own lives when it seems impossible. I feel that young adult readers can identify with the common goal of these characters: To change their world and gain their freedom. From the discussion in class today we realized as adult readers, the society Lowry builds is a dystopian society, but it is difficult to place the blame on the people of the society. The black and white of the struggle for good vs evil is not as clear as contemporary novels, but the character’s general goal remains the same.
Author Archives: sbrooks36
The Night I Disappeared
The Night I Disappeared: My First Novel Obsession
Truthfully, the first book I remember being very proud I read on my own was The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I was in first grade and very interested in how a man without a head could steer a horse. Although this is my first vivid memory of reading, it wasn’t until I was twelve and picked up a book called The Night I Disappeared by Julie Reece Deaver that I realized how much I loved reading and writing stories. What captured me as a preteen was the mystery and use of suspense within the novel, along with an ending that’s worthy of being an M. Night Shyamalan twist.
This story broke many rules I thought existed, teaching me there are no rules in writing, only patterns. These patterns are what we become accustomed to and although they exist for reasons, breaking these patterns (and doing it well) is a sign of a great writer. When we shift our perception of what a story is, a door is opened that gives us freedom to interpretation and exercises our imagination. Mine was shifted by the author’s choice in keeping a big event in the character’s life a secret til the end of the novel. I learned good storytelling is knowing when to leave bread crumbs and when to expose information. It balances a fine line of how much you want the audience to know and what you want them to learn throughout the story. An author knows the ins and outs of their character, but deciding when the audience should learn these things shifts the way the story is told as well as a character is perceived.
The novel also taught me twist endings and deaths at the end of a story can be done well, there’s danger in throwing information at your reader that wasn’t hinted at or cohesive to the rest of the story. Although you don’t predict the ending it still has to be plausible, not only finishing the story, but also enhancing it. When a writer breaks the contract of expectation with the reader, there must be a reason or else the reader loses trust in the author breaking their suspension of disbelief. These ideas were instilled in me at a young age, but it took more reading and writing of my own to realize them. The Night I Disappeared became a foundation for my future readings by making me subconsciously aware of the art of “the unknown” within a story.
Creepy Carrots! A 2013 Caldecott Honor
In first grade there were a set of books in the library I was obsessed with. They were short non-fiction picture books informing children of the progression of horror movies, focusing on a monster for every book. I remember one of my favorite aspects of the book was that the photos were of old black and white films, a connection I made in my head to my favorite TV show, “The Munsters.” I chose the book Creepy Carrots! because it reminded me of those books I loved as a child. Creepy Carrots! was created with the aesthetic of early horror films as inspiration to introduce the younger generation to film noir, as well as horror.
Favorite Fairy Tale Retelling
In middle school I purchased a compilation of stories titled, A Wolf at the Door and other Retold Fairy Tales edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. The book had short stories by acclaimed authors such as Neil Gaiman, Tanith Lee, Garth Nix, and Nancy Farmer. My favorite work was not a short story, but a mini-epic poem by Gregory McGuire from the point of view of the seven dwarves in Snow White after Snow White’s happy ending. “The Seven Stage a Comeback” is divided not by stanzas, but by numbers on the left side of the poem, indicating which dwarf is speaking. After Snow White left with her prince to live out her happily ever after, the dwarves are left to pick up the pieces of their lives, and come to grips with the realization that she is gone. They decide to take the glass coffin with them over the mountain to track down Snow White and “visit” her. They waiver between the idea of just visiting her and putting the poison apple in the coffin, to keep it fresh for when they give it to her, in order to put her back in the coffin and take her home. The ending of the poem has a twist and switches perspectives into Snow White’s, where we see she has a hazy recollection of her time in the coffin and before. I don’t want to give too much away, but everyone gets their happy ending in this re-told story too.
I liked this retelling the most because it was well written, you can clearly assign which dwarf is speaking without being told, it’s a fresh point of view of a story we all know, and it is a little quirky with it’s choice of focusing not on a prince, princess, or even a witch, but dwarves.
