I've had trouble finding something good to read today. I tried a J fiction book, Wolf Brother, having seen it at Not enough Bookshelves. It sounded interesting, but I couldn't get into it. I didn't like how it jumped immediately into high drama in the first scene, without any introduction to the characters, solid setting or nice descriptions for establishment. Action, panic, danger, mystery. A demon bear haunting a forest six million years ago; and one boy who has secret special powers he's unaware of and can talk to wolves, has to hunt it down... But I just couldn't get a sense of being there. I'm beginning to realize that juvenile fiction just doesn't work for me anymore, unless it's entertaining and charming (like Ordinary Princess was) or wonderfully descriptive. This book just wasn't my style. I read on the jacket that it is the author's first book of juvenile fiction. Perhaps I'd like her adult works better.Abandoned ..0/5.... 320 pages, 2006
I know what you mean. I actually read a lot of children's and YA books, but I am more demanding with them than I am with adult fiction. Good characterization is essential, and so is not dumbing things down.
ReplyDeleteNymeth- I don't understand why some authors seem to think that kids can't appreciate good writing, readers are usually not dumb! (Though there may be a need perhaps, to simplify writing to make it accessible to kids who are just getting into it). I remember as a kid always reading two or three steps above my reading level. There was something exciting about reading a book I couldn't quite grasp and had to look up words for. I enjoyed it.
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