tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post9161769400715539333..comments2024-03-25T09:56:16.164+00:00Comments on An Awfully Big Blog Adventure: Is There More Science in Fantasy than Real Life? Thinking About Science in Children's Books - by Emma BarnesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-17669524028834807372015-03-25T12:23:29.313+00:002015-03-25T12:23:29.313+00:00You pose an interesting question! It makes me want...You pose an interesting question! It makes me want to read more and make a list of books with science in them!Alysa Stewarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03705870547401762370noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-8196507482116883732015-03-18T11:17:55.023+00:002015-03-18T11:17:55.023+00:00Catweazle and George's Marvellous Medicine - t...Catweazle and George's Marvellous Medicine - two other great examples. I guess what these "magical" type stories have in common with a scientific perspective is a spirit of inquiry about the world and a joy in experiment, and making things.<br /><br />"It's still something of a badge of honour not to understand maths or science, rather than a source of shame (as it would be to be illiterate)." That's very true, Stroppy. I didn't really touch on that but you are right of course that there is a big Arts/Science divide - also, of course, that there is lots of excellent non-fiction, such as your own books (I'd thought of talking about non-fiction but I'd already written an essay...) Emma Barneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02718171070716804800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-58426282953485537202015-03-18T11:02:38.952+00:002015-03-18T11:02:38.952+00:00Stroppy Anne, you are so right to point out the ri...Stroppy Anne, you are so right to point out the ridiculous pride some 'artsy' people take in being scientifically ignorant. <br /><br />What drives me up the wall is when people climb out of their satellite-navigated cars, wake up their touch-screen smartphones, call up their cloud-based personal diaries and book an appointment with their doctor for an ultrasound scan before sitting down to a ready meal of vegetarian meat substitute, all while thinking, 'Science? Not for me.'Nick Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08191176209084540085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-26036533802252458882015-03-18T07:11:36.134+00:002015-03-18T07:11:36.134+00:00George's Marvellous Medicine - surely that'...George's Marvellous Medicine - surely that's how a lot of children discover science, by 'making potions'? Mine certainly did. <br /><br />Nick is right that science is marvellous enough not to need fictionalising. Children *are* introduced to science as wonderful and exciting. I've written dozens of books for children with science in. It doesn't need to be in stories. <br /><br />That said, I've also included science in stories but on the whole editors are resistant to it (perhaps because they are all arts graduates who don't understand it and are scared of it, and assume kids won't like it because they don't).<br /><br />It's a fair point that much (not all) modern work in science is actually people in white coats using machines. But much work in everything is people sitting at desks using computers. The point is not really to show scientists at work but to get across the wonder of the things the scientists are discvering or working on, surely? It's true that children are mostly excluded from laboratories, but they are mostly excluded from all other workplaces, too. Children's fiction doesn't show us adult workplaces because it's about children's worlds. I think it's more about the writers/editors not knowing enough to be able to include it. All part of the public's general ignorance about science. It's still something of a badge of honour not to understand maths or science, rather than a source of shame (as it would be to be illiterate). Until that changes, editors can get away with shunning science. <br /><br />But thank you - I'll load even more science into my current story and have that argument with editors!Stroppy Authorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16560035800075465845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-55346450548127848712015-03-17T22:31:26.643+00:002015-03-17T22:31:26.643+00:00Something I liked as a kid was different perspecti...Something I liked as a kid was different perspectives and interpretations of the same thing. Like Catweazle I remember Catweazle who has timetraveled from the past - assuming that electricity was "magic" and pulling on a nail looking hopefully at a lightbulb in the barn and intoning "Shine tiny light!" (I hope I've remembered that right!). I loved as a child feeling I knew that bit more than he did about what electricity was - but still relating to him because he was discovering the world anew and making me see my world anew. I think the Ogre Downstairs is great - not necessarily scientific but the way the kids DO the experiments. Properly with heating things up and cooling things down and all the proper apparatus.RosyBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-85304369496946980062015-03-17T10:22:32.520+00:002015-03-17T10:22:32.520+00:00Great post - and yes, I think you're right tha...Great post - and yes, I think you're right that science strangely ends up more in fantasy books than 'real life' ones. I think it's because writers are on their toes to make their magic hang together logically - they need to work out explanations for why things happen the way they do, so their protagonists are often set that task of figuring it out. And that sort of 'early science' of explaining the world is much easier to get across than real life modern science.C.J.Busbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12288574235370421625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-42657275781424140122015-03-17T09:58:37.944+00:002015-03-17T09:58:37.944+00:00I absolutely agree! Springboard, underpinning, ho...I absolutely agree! Springboard, underpinning, hoard of ideas for stories - the more you find out about science the more amazing it gets!Joan Lennonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15763862159032836768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-14639294526133568902015-03-17T09:14:32.163+00:002015-03-17T09:14:32.163+00:00I think it was Einstein who said that one of the g...I think it was Einstein who said that one of the greatest qualities a scientist could have was imagination. You need to do more than measure and test. You also need vision to interpret and theorise.<br /><br />The deeper you delve into the natural world, the more you realise that it's orders of magnitude more extraordinary, more incredible, more fantastical and strange than any work of fiction or myth or religion. Science is accused of stifling imagination, unweaving the rainbow, murdering to dissect, and nothing could be farther from the truth. If anyone ever wants their mind to be entirely blown, just read up all that has been discovered about the workings of a single cell in a living body. You really couldn't make it up.Nick Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08191176209084540085noreply@blogger.com