Are the Newbery books kid friendly?

[osprey_archer]

hedgebird asked: Do you think the books generally are actually kid-friendly, if kids aren't put off by the dead dog rep?

Well, obviously I’m hugely biased, given that I started the Newbery project when I was eleven, so clearly they were friendly enough that I at least decided to try to read all of them. After I had read Out of the Dust, too, which doesn’t have a dead dog but does have pretty much everything else that a child could find off-putting in a Newbery book.

My impression is that for the first few decades of the Newbery, say 1920-1970, either the Newbery committee or American children’s publishing as a whole was committed to kid-friendly children’s books. This is not to say that nothing bad ever happens to anyone - in fact, I can think of two books off the top of my head where the ending is “Well, a volcano just blew up our civilization” - but I never finished any of those books with the feeling that the author had intentionally taken a crowbar to my soul just to watch me bleed.

This is not to say I would blithely give the books from these decades to children today, as some of them have other content (e.g. racism) that you might not hand to a modern eight-year-old. But with the sole exception of Old Yeller I don’t think any of these books are so sad that they’d make a kid want to forswear reading.

Then around 1970 Newbery committee and/or American children’s publishing discovered animal death in a big way, closely followed by relative death and general “something bad happened in my life and this whole book is going to be about my misery.” So after that point there are some books that are great which I loved as a child (Catherine Called Birdie, Ella Enchanted, The Thief) and some books that are scarring like Out of the Dust and Jacob Have I Loved.

Although I HAVE met some people who loved Jacob Have I Loved in their youth, so clearly “kid-friendly” can be quite subjective. Some kids love misery! I myself loved The Long Winter best of all the Little House books! It’s just a different kind of misery than Jacob Have I Loved’s “Waaaah everyone loves my twin sister more than me because she is better than me in literally every way and frankly even the reader can see it so shut up and stop whining and maybe people will like you more, annoying protagonist.”

Comments

[conuly]

Although I HAVE met some people who loved Jacob Have I Loved in their youth, so clearly “kid-friendly” can be quite subjective

They pop up pretty regularly, two or three times a year, at /r/whatsthatbook.

What's weird is that I know I've read that book, but I can never dredge up a single fact about it other than that the island is wearing away with the tides, which is probably symbolic of something other than climate change.

[sovay]

What's weird is that I know I've read that book, but I can never dredge up a single fact about it other than that the island is wearing away with the tides, which is probably symbolic of something other than climate change.

I remain a vivid memory of the first edition cover, under which I read it c. fifth grade or so. Reconstructing what I can of the plot from memory, I realize that I keep forgetting it was published about forty years after it's set, because it so easily could have made a women's picture of the just post-war era, probably minus the detail of the climactic breastfeeding, alas, thanks to the Production Code.

[osprey_archer]

I'd forgotten that detail! I don't remember a lot of details about the book, honestly, mostly just the general fact that I found the heroine SO annoying that when the guy she liked got engaged to her sister I was like GOOD FOR HIM.

[mme_n_b]

"Do some kids love a book" doesn't have anything to do with whether it's kid-friendly. I loved Jane Eyre as a weepy 8-year-old, and King Matt the First. Those are scarring as all get-out and as an adult I think I would've been better off if I hadn't encountered them for another ten or so years.

[lokifan]

"Do some kids love a book" doesn't have anything to do with whether it's kid-friendly

Hmm, it's a good sign but that's a fair point. Though Jane Eyre was fine for me, personally, at age 10 - not scarring, anyway. The first part felt completely of a piece with A Little Princess etc to me, the mistreated orphan girl. I always say the only aspect of Jane Eyre that kid!me couldn't grok was that I really liked St John Rivers for Jane, and was outraged when she went back to Rochester - which I think is at least partly down to the fact that I didn't understand sexual desire yet, and didn't get what it meant/why it was important that St John was cold and wanted Jane's passions suppressed too.

[mme_n_b]

Speaking of scarring - have you tried Cuaron's A Little Princess? I watched it with my daughter thinking it'd be kid-friendly because, you know, Little Princess. Calming her down afterwards took a week.

[lokifan]

OMG, I just learnt that was Alfonso Cuaron! Yeah, that was a childhood favourite, actually, for me and my sisters. I'm surprised it wasn't okay for your daughter - was it the part where she climbs between windows on a wobbly board?

[mme_n_b]

No, mainly the part where her father is killed in the on-screen gas attack, but also the one where she finds him and he completely fails to recognize her and she's melting down trying to get through to him while he treats her like a complete stranger.

[mme_n_b]

I was 18 when Little Princess came out, if it was your childhood favorite you're probably 10-15 years younger than me? OK, non-joking question: when you consider your reaction to what's happening in the world now, do you find yourself expecting, explicitly or not, the worse outcomes? Do you think it might be because death, failure, and suffering in Little Princess and other 19th-and-early-20th-century books/movies commonly fed to children of our-ish generation (Nils! Matt the First! Moomins! Peter Pan! Little Women! and that's not even going into the animal books) were so much more realistic and likely than successes?

[sovay]

in fact, I can think of two books off the top of my head where the ending is “Well, a volcano just blew up our civilization”

I have to ask about the one which isn't The Twenty-One Balloons.

[osprey_archer]

Oh my GOD there are THREE ACTUALLY, I had forgotten The Twenty-One Balloons! Why was this such a thing? My two are both pre-atom bomb, too, so it can't be about that...

The two I was thinking of were Alida Malkus's Dark Star of Itza (volcano blows up Mayan civilization) and Erick Berry's Winged Girl of Knossos (volcano blows up Minoan civilization).

[sovay]

The two I was thinking of were Alida Malkus's Dark Star of Itza (volcano blows up Mayan civilization) and Erick Berry's Winged Girl of Knossos (volcano blows up Minoan civilization).

I missed the Mayan one! I am fascinated by this quantity of volcano.

[asakiyume]

There are definitely some rocking good Newbery award winners mixed in with the pain-and-suffering ones! And as you say, some people love misery.

I loved The Long Winter too, but more in the nature of an adventure survival story than a pain-and-misery one.

rankly even the reader can see it so shut up and stop whining and maybe people will like you more, annoying protagonist. --LOL, how I felt about the protagonist of the last book my book group read.

[osprey_archer]

I think actually you're right that The Long Winter is more of a survival/adventure story than a pain-and-misery story. There's maybe some overlap between the categories (surviving can be pretty gritty!) but definitely a different emphasis.

What was the last book your book group read? Asking so I can avoid it.

[asakiyume]

Shred Sisters by … dang , I’m on my phone and can’t get a new window w/out losing what I’m writing. Boring-ass “good” sister plods through a tale of how her life was so HARD because her pretty sister’s mental illness gobbled up all her parents’ attention and in spite of the fact that the sister created huge problems, everyone liked her better. 🙄 The storytelling was very march-along reportage, and the MC had zero self-reflection.

[osprey_archer]

I'm sure in real life it is hard when there's one sibling who is just more likeable in every way, and surely there is a way to write this where the unlikeable sibling is at least likeable to the readers, but it might involve making the unlikeable sibling NOT completely eaten up by bitterness and jealousy.

[asakiyume]

And the sister in this case caused super headaches for the parents! She spent all their money! She ran off! She was a real problem!

But the MC was a real sourpuss.

(in conclusion: yes! NOT completely eaten up.)

[lobelia321]

Hi! As per profile request, I am notifying you of my having friended you (although I do believe the lovely verb "friending" is left over from Lj?). /waves

[osprey_archer]

Yes, I think the DW-ism would be "added you to my circle" or something, but it's just much clunkier!