A real good novel, seriously check this one out

Have any of you read any Douglad Coupland? I read my first book by him on the weekend, and I was very much impressed. He's from Vancouver, which I didn't know.

Anyway, the book I read was called Elanor Rigby, after the Beatles song about incurable lonliness. The main character in the novel, Liz Dunn, is one of those lonely people. I don't really know how describe this book without giving it away, so I'm going to do it the sucker way and just quote from the book jacket, because I can't think of a better way to say it:

"Liz Dunn is 42 years old, and lonely. Her house is like 'a spinter's cell block', and she may or may not snore - there's never been anybody to tell her. Then one day in 1997, with the comet Hale Bopp burning bright in the blue-black sky, Liz recieves an urgent phone call asking her to visit a young man in hospital. All at once, the loneliness that has come to define her is ripped away by this funny, smart, handsome young stranger, Jeremy. Her son."

So, obviously, the kid was put up for adoption. The book unfolds and explains why, and Jeremy's character develops and you start to love him and love Liz in ways you didn't expect. And various curve-balls in the story are thrown, and you can't stop reading and reading. I finished this one in less than two days. I am a machine.

Scary Children's Books

We haven't been posting much, as all three snobs are off on teaching adventures. Kris and Linz are in their first classrooms and Nes is teaching English in South Korea. Needless to say, this doesn't leave a lot of time for reading!

Nonetheless, I have read something worth writing about. It is a children's book I was reading for my class - I wanted to see if I could use it for my October read-aloud book, but it's been scrapped for that.

Coraline is by Neil Gaiman, of Sandman fame. Apparently it's a great book for kids, and is recommended for ages eight and up. (However, one of the reviewers suggested grade 6 and up. That's a whole different story.) It's gotten rave reviews ("The most splendidly original, weird, and frightening book I have read, and yet full of things children will love." -Terry Pratchett) and I don't disagree that it is a wonderfully original and creepy tale. I just want to know who in the hell thought it would be a good idea for grade three students to read it?! It didn't scare me and much as I found it genuinely creepy. The description of the "other mother", the villain of the tale, brings up a scary monster for my imagination. I can't imagine what the little kids who read it would think. My grade four students would be more than capable of reading it, although they would need to look up some of the more eloquent words in the dictionary, but it would have scared the bloody bejeezus out of grade four me.

No, I was not that much of a wuss. It is a really frightening book.

I would recommend that anyone read it. Books for children are becoming more and more readable these days. It's not enough to plunk down some nauseatingly saccharine tale about the Secret Seven and their oh-so-family-approved hi-jinks. Although Harry Potter is the most (in)famous example of kid's books for adult readers, there are lots of books that offer a satisfying read without the sex, violence and commitment of a 500-page novel. Who has read Katherine Paterson's Bridge to Terabithia? I still cry when the ... major event happens. For more well-written books, try The Boy in the Burning House by Tim Wynne-Jones, or Adam and Eve and Pinch-Me by Julie Johnson. Books meant for children often feel weakest in the ending, as kids really need strings neatly tied at the end (at least more so than adults). But that doesn't mean they can't be fun and heart-warming up until then.

But back to my original rant: why would a book that will likely scare the bejeezus out of grade schoolers be considered a good thing? Since when do kids want/need to be scared? I realize that the fairy tales that used to be told were a whole helluva lot scarier than the watered-down versions we have now, but Coraline is a fantasy. There is no moral element that gives reason to the scariness. I guess I'm just not sure what to do about it. It's in my lending library for the kids right now, but I know if someone wants to borrow it, I'll have to write a note to the parents first. Recommended for grade threes or not, I don't want some irate mommy telling me that the book gave their kid nightmares!