Aren’t kids better off with books and films that set us up for life’s grim disappointments?
Newsday talks to Lizzie Skurnick about her new book Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading, which is also reviewed at the Los Angeles Times. I haven't read this yet, but I'm assuming it will, at long last, answer the titular question posed in Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (My guess: God was screening his calls because he gets the same fucking question about training bras like every day.)
In related news, British children's author Anne Fine is complaining that modern children's books are too grim, unhappy, and overly realistic. Lucy Jones responds by asking "Aren’t kids better off with books and films that set us up for life’s grim disappointments?" (Worked for me! I mean, I drink a lot. But that could have just been the twelve years of Catholic school.) And Stephen Moss suggests alternate, happier endings for classic books. (My favorite is his proposed revision of Lord of the Flies: "When a ship does eventually come by to rescue them, they are all jolly reluctant to leave their delightful little island.")
I guess I can see both sides. As a kid, I preferred the books with realistic endings. But I always thought maybe the Sweet Valley Methadone Clinic series went a little too far.
-Michael Schaub