tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post6039095094459117620..comments2024-03-25T09:56:16.164+00:00Comments on An Awfully Big Blog Adventure: Creating Pisstory Meg HarperUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-42306017158115564782011-06-13T19:13:11.716+01:002011-06-13T19:13:11.716+01:00I'm interested in Lynne G's concept of a &...I'm interested in Lynne G's concept of a 'yuk bubble'. Haven't children always liked reading/talking about farts etc? Chaucer got a good deal of mileage from it, too. <br /><br />I don't think it's a marketing bubble: I think it's more that, culturally, adults right now are allowing kids to read about what they want to read about, rather than insisting that books *should be* about 'proper', non-sniggerly, subjects.<br /><br />I welcome anything that gets children to read - and laugh. If that's poo, or lizard guts, or whatever supports a good story, I say Bravo (and tee hee).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-67840445790421625662011-05-15T15:00:04.309+01:002011-05-15T15:00:04.309+01:00Thankk God I have found your blog!
I share your th...Thankk God I have found your blog!<br />I share your thougths of this garden and to books. At our local book fair two weeks ago, the best sellers were posters and cheap toys!Lou Ann Homanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10975972696054637393noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-61194026100399166172011-05-13T22:16:46.952+01:002011-05-13T22:16:46.952+01:00I wasn't going to leave a comment but I’ve dec...I wasn't going to leave a comment but I’ve decided I would because my latest book features a bodily function. This is something I never dreamt I would write about but when an editor is offering you a contract what do you do? As with all my picture books I try to include some sort of lesson. So although the bodily function may be the initial ‘pull’ of the book the title is really about not blaming others and taking responsibly for your own actions. <br /><br />I’ll admit it was a thrill as I watched my 80-year-old aunt cry with laughter as she read the proofs and my three-year-old nephew giggle and clap as the book was read to him. Has my book joined the bandwagon, well I’ll be honest yes it has! Is it selling at the moment, it would appear so. Will it sell when the ‘yuk’ bubble bursts? I doubt it! <br /><br />So half of me asks if it is an issue, as the readers are getting something they enjoy. Whilst the other half of me agrees with you that there does appear to be a lot of books using the yuk factor as a selling point. However as with all genres they come and they go. We were over-run by wizards, now it’s vampires and werewolves and in a few years something else will be filling the shelves. Whatever genre is ‘hot’ there will be good books and there will be bad. We just have to hope most of it is good.Lynne Garnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05697330164705623835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-62048467230062617942011-05-11T20:04:02.882+01:002011-05-11T20:04:02.882+01:00Yes, good points one and all. I think that's a...Yes, good points one and all. I think that's a very interesting reflection, Charlie - the up side of all this is that at least we are seeing a different strata of history. Talking of which, the 'Dirt' exhibition at The Wellcome Foundation is interesting. I realised I know far too much about dirt already to learn an awful lot but I still found it very thought-provoking and would recommend it - especially as its free, appropriately enough.Meg Harperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07461125464455502821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-72677957527505207792011-05-11T13:14:09.017+01:002011-05-11T13:14:09.017+01:00I'm ambivalent about the snot 'n' boge...I'm ambivalent about the snot 'n' bogey brigade. Or rather, I think it varies a good deal in quality (I really like Captain Underpants, but farts and poo are obviously the very stuff of cheap laughs and faux subversiveness too).<br /><br />In its historical incarnation, I suppose you can see this as a manifestation of the movement for "history from below" (as it were). Over the last couple of generations school history lessons have shifted from "kings and battles" to social history - and in that context sewage and sanitary arrangements are genuinely important subjects! In fact, Sir John Harington's flushing toilet (the one used by Elizabeth) took pride of place in a documentary on domestic living I happened to catch just a couple of weeks ago. If he'd had the foresight to invent the U-bend as well, he might be up there with Edison, rather than being known as the translator of <i>Orlando Furioso</i>.<br /><br />But I'm not really disagreeing with you. I'm old-fashioned enough to think that a decent knowledge of Queen Elizabeth should extend to other fundamentals.Cathy Butlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03838615971611193743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-32519503579293427912011-05-11T12:43:40.957+01:002011-05-11T12:43:40.957+01:00Things go in waves don't they? The Horrible H...Things go in waves don't they? The Horrible Histories are clever, funny and well-researched - as well as concentrating on the horrible - but then it seems like everything has to be put into the "yuk" mould because of their success. When fantasy was huge, it seemed that every piece of historical fiction had to have a "magic" element to it.<br /><br />Maybe if one fairly straight, historical adventure story makes it really big, that too will set off a new trend.<br /><br />And I feel really sad about the garden too :(Emma Barneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02718171070716804800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-26969107300652514322011-05-11T12:36:27.763+01:002011-05-11T12:36:27.763+01:00Good point, Stroppy Author - and I'm certainly...Good point, Stroppy Author - and I'm certainly not knocking some books in the gross and grisly genre. But my quick scan the other day suggested that the quality is getting lower and lower - what was a clever and wacky idea for making the glories of our planet and our history engaging, has become, in some instances, a cheap trick.Meg Harperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07461125464455502821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-41827829729077784452011-05-11T12:29:12.596+01:002011-05-11T12:29:12.596+01:00Tricky to respond to this, as my best-selling book...Tricky to respond to this, as my best-selling book by far is called 1001 Horrible Facts. And the only commission I have for this summer is a book for Barrington Stoke that is a follow-up to Grim, Gross and Grisly. Are these books rubbish? I don't think so, but I'm open to persuasion. <br /><br />Firstly, they are non-fiction. They are not stories about farts and poo, they contain carefully researched facts about humans (in one case) and all aspects of the natural world and history (in the other). They provide small gobbets of amusing or amazing information that I hope will open a child's eyes to the wonders of the world around them. Because it IS wonderful (in the sense of wonder-inducing) that there are some animals that eat their mates, or that people in some countries make a drink from rotting seagulls, or that if you could stretch out your gut it would be 9 metres long. Maybe we would prefer children to be amazed at something more pleasant. But perhaps that will come later if they have had the doors to reading, science and history opened for them - or at least left ajar so that they can peek through.Stroppy Authorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16560035800075465845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-49405366884344616752011-05-11T11:58:19.050+01:002011-05-11T11:58:19.050+01:00Exactly. All of that. Cat, I really hope it wasn&#...Exactly. All of that. Cat, I really hope it wasn't a mistake to write an adventure story - I don't think so because there are some great adventure stories out there. My kids' book group loved 'Chasing Vermeer' and 'Framed'.Adele, you're so right - it's the proportions. We know there's wonderful stuff being written (and going out of print too fast) but it's becoming invisible. Hidden by piles of poo. Old age, Adele? - pah!!!!Meg Harperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07461125464455502821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-76543727483945992702011-05-11T11:47:38.901+01:002011-05-11T11:47:38.901+01:00The story about the garden is terribly sad. Awful....The story about the garden is terribly sad. Awful. I hope the new owners put in one even better....it's the least they can do. But re the rubbish there is about, I know how you feel. I've read a few books lately that just made my heart sink and it's not that there hasn't always been rubbish around, it's just the the proportions are different when it comes to the stocking and visibility of GOOD STUFF. I know there IS good stuff out there but somehow it doesn't have the visibility and presence of the rubbish, which is I suppose easier to sell. This wouldn't matter quite so much were it not for the fact that non-visibility means lower sales and lower sales means: the writer of the wonderful, invisible book will not be given another contract to write another terrific novel. It's all very sad. I thought it was just me and a consequence of old age, etc but clearly not! Thanks for a very interesting post.adelehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15826710558292792068noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-78525442071176879332011-05-11T10:57:24.072+01:002011-05-11T10:57:24.072+01:00I am often appalled at what appears on the library...I am often appalled at what appears on the library shelves and even in our local independent bookshop. It has been that way for a long time. Books here seem to fall into one of two categories - the sort of book you are talking about and the sort of book which is intended to teach children about an "issue", usually a social issue. When I suggested that children sometimes wanted to lose themselves in a good book I was told that this was a "waste of time". <br />I am now wondering whether writing an adventure type story was a mistake!catdownunderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06959328192182156574noreply@blogger.com