tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post7401283892250723757..comments2024-03-25T09:56:16.164+00:00Comments on An Awfully Big Blog Adventure: Innocent and heartless - Anne RooneyUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-49501922046057726862014-10-14T14:03:10.445+01:002014-10-14T14:03:10.445+01:00Oh, yes, kids have all the power, as much as we mi...Oh, yes, kids have all the power, as much as we might like to think that we have it. Great post, Anne, and very interesting. My current WIP has a couple of 'heartless' teens, and it's interesting that actually few have been portrayed in fiction. Lots of food for thought.<br />Savita Kalhanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07977368691995933130noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-37290224720021139622014-10-10T16:15:28.637+01:002014-10-10T16:15:28.637+01:00But I guess I should probably read Maria Nikolajev...But I guess I should probably read Maria Nikolajeva before I put my oar in on that one!C.J.Busbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12288574235370421625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-55583134717082265032014-10-10T15:52:02.014+01:002014-10-10T15:52:02.014+01:00One of the things that instantly struck me about t...One of the things that instantly struck me about the power relation between children and parents - the aetonormativity argument Clementine makes - is that it's completely different from, say, gender power not just because children will live longer but because they will themselves become adults - there's a kind of exchange at the heart of this relationship - we have the power now but look after you, you will have it later (and hopefully look after us). So childhood is a kind of stage rather than category - and children's books do celebrate the special power of that stage; the vividness of everything, the freedom to care mostly about yourself (I suppose that's the heartless bit!) So I can't see the aetonormativity as oppressive argument at all.C.J.Busbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12288574235370421625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-86360670738599780412014-10-10T07:58:55.498+01:002014-10-10T07:58:55.498+01:00really interesting post, Anne. That question that ...really interesting post, Anne. That question that gets asked so often of children's writers: 'have you got children?' is usually taken to imply 'because if you haven't, how can you write for children?', but I often think it is more about questioning the horror of losing 'heartless children' to their dangerous adventures - even within the pages of a book someone has written. Lilyhttp://www.lilyhyde.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-89588877916725882232014-10-09T20:02:56.896+01:002014-10-09T20:02:56.896+01:00I agree entirely, Nick - it is such a strange thin...I agree entirely, Nick - it is such a strange thing that we do. My daughter had a baby last year and I realised all over again how it really is stepping up to the edge of the abyss, where you didn't need to go, and then living your life on that edge ever afterwards.<br />Stroppy Authorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16560035800075465845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-10665113855002891232014-10-09T15:52:22.557+01:002014-10-09T15:52:22.557+01:00Towards the end of my new book Project Firebird, o...Towards the end of my new book Project Firebird, one of the heroes discusses whether or not to let their parents know where they are. He decides, 'No. They'd only worry.' Another replies, 'Parents do that.' In context, of course, it's all rather an understatement.<br /><br />So true about kids holding all the power. I remember contemplating the question: to have kids, or not? At the time we were childless, and reasonably happy. But we knew that to have a child, and then be childless again, would be to face utter destruction. How is it that we can wilfully hold such a gun to our own heads? Yet we do.Nick Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08191176209084540085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-71435238556820022212014-10-09T15:52:16.008+01:002014-10-09T15:52:16.008+01:00Lovely post. You've picked up on just what I t...Lovely post. You've picked up on just what I think makes Barrie's book so radical and challenging in its representation of children - a challenge that few of his successors have successfully met.Catherine Butlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17693526864905868829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-35524453637915775512014-10-09T15:43:52.904+01:002014-10-09T15:43:52.904+01:00Great pots Anne.
When parents are around in scary...Great pots Anne. <br />When parents are around in scary situations often you have a role reversal and have the child behaving as the adult. I did this with my Oliver Strange books. The father, a herpetologist, is the one who is often in trouble. At one time when he is about to rub his eye after touching the most poisonous poison dart frog in the world, it's his son who shouts out to warn him. <br />I think you can get away with role reversal in younger chn's novels. I solve the mobile problem by cheating and putting them in the heart of the Okavango Swamps... or the forests of Colombia. Sorry no signal! Dianne Hofmeyrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18222157214605257030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-18748342776423322012014-10-09T12:49:37.770+01:002014-10-09T12:49:37.770+01:00Fascinating post. That heartless thing is so true,...Fascinating post. That heartless thing is so true, and yet so rarely portrayed. So many protagonists are fully empathic or otherwise nice. It's a useful insight, thanks.<br /><br />The Girl Who Tweeted Wolf by Nick Bryan has a fairly realistic parent in it but, since the protagonist is 17, the parent's power to be aware of the risk beforehand or to prevent its reoccurrence is limited. It would be far harder to manage it successfully with a younger child.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09799125598133377058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-59240782926216555332014-10-09T10:16:05.516+01:002014-10-09T10:16:05.516+01:00Great post, thank you.
Great post, thank you.<br />Heather Dyerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16663116147353986746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-24191341108877355692014-10-09T09:35:49.907+01:002014-10-09T09:35:49.907+01:00That's so interesting. What a great post!That's so interesting. What a great post!Anne Boothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17160915179685300264noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-14144789919822789372014-10-09T08:39:25.924+01:002014-10-09T08:39:25.924+01:00And what with the mobile phone, we have to find mo...And what with the mobile phone, we have to find more and more ways of getting children away from their parents in stories - nowadays, Julian and Susan would just have sent a text when they got into trouble... though I suppose many of their adventures would have been in places where there wasn't a signal...Sue Purkisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09084528571944803477noreply@blogger.com