Monday, February 11, 2008
No Talking
by Andrew Clements.
Let me say up front, Clements is one of my favourite authors for middle grades. I like that his characters are well-fleshed out, both children and adult, and they are thinkers, smart people, by and large. People who, even when they make mistakes or act in haste, think about it afterwards, and figure out some way to make it right. They are, I suppose, what we would hope for people to be.
His books follow a fairly predictable pattern - they are school stories, some kid has an idea, something he wants to do differently, or an experiment, and he meets with some resistance, but the adults around him respect his thinking, and either decide to support and help, or to at least not truly stand in his way. The experiment goes forth, and both children and adults watch with interest. In the end, people learn something worthwhile.
This book is no exception. But still, it's a formula that I enjoy, the ideas are always kind of interesting, and the books are such that kids both get to see adults being real, 3-dimensional people, and get to mull over a new idea. I think it's a winning combination so even though I think the formula is pretty obvious, I still like it. The man is the king of the school story, after all.
Let me say up front, Clements is one of my favourite authors for middle grades. I like that his characters are well-fleshed out, both children and adult, and they are thinkers, smart people, by and large. People who, even when they make mistakes or act in haste, think about it afterwards, and figure out some way to make it right. They are, I suppose, what we would hope for people to be.
His books follow a fairly predictable pattern - they are school stories, some kid has an idea, something he wants to do differently, or an experiment, and he meets with some resistance, but the adults around him respect his thinking, and either decide to support and help, or to at least not truly stand in his way. The experiment goes forth, and both children and adults watch with interest. In the end, people learn something worthwhile.
This book is no exception. But still, it's a formula that I enjoy, the ideas are always kind of interesting, and the books are such that kids both get to see adults being real, 3-dimensional people, and get to mull over a new idea. I think it's a winning combination so even though I think the formula is pretty obvious, I still like it. The man is the king of the school story, after all.
Labels: 2007, good stuff, middle grades
# posted by kittenpie @ 3:24 PM 
