tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post6734078105144277141..comments2024-03-25T09:56:16.164+00:00Comments on An Awfully Big Blog Adventure: The Carnegie Medal - A Golden Moment - by Dawn FinchUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-90653353925131900062015-06-22T11:05:06.873+01:002015-06-22T11:05:06.873+01:00Very Interesting post, thanks for sharing Dawn. Very Interesting post, thanks for sharing Dawn. Sallyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12759992873045228788noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-51173847190758490462015-06-08T09:59:45.685+01:002015-06-08T09:59:45.685+01:00Playing Devil's Advocate, but my fear about th...Playing Devil's Advocate, but my fear about the YA-fication and darkening of the Carnegie shortlist is that it creates a void for genuine children's fiction, what the Americans call middle-grade.<br /><br />It's always far easier to write an 'issue' book and make it powerful because of the horrendous ordeals you put your characters through - kids taking drugs and dying or having sex and getting pregnant or diseased is always going to shock, and that shock factor compels readers and impresses critics alike for its drama and 'bravery'. <br /><br />But these are all 'adult fears'. What's far harder to do is write a book that contains no adult fears but which recaptures the sense of actually being a child, which plays on the uniqueness of a child's imagination, while still managing (through that warping lens) to speak of real and powerful fears and desires. The classic children's writers managed to do it, they managed to write stunningly powerful and moving and disturbing works without a sniff of a drug or a teenage pregnancy in sight.<br /><br />The criteria for a great children's book should not be how closely it resembles a book for adults. That's missing the whole point, I think.Nick Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08191176209084540085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-56501911355394618642015-06-08T09:48:41.264+01:002015-06-08T09:48:41.264+01:00That was very interesting. Thank you for writing t...That was very interesting. Thank you for writing that.Anne Boothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17160915179685300264noreply@blogger.com