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Comment
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Karen
Unregistered User
(7/30/01 3:19:45 pm)
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off topic
This is probably the wrong place to ask this, but has anyone read these Lemony Sickert (sp?) books and are they any good?
K.
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tlchang37
Unregistered User
(7/31/01 3:03:20 pm)
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off topic - Lemony Snicket
I picked them up because I went to college with the illustrator - and because one OUGHT to maybe read something written by someone called Lemony Snicket. :-)
I haven't read a lot - and what I have read is pretty dark - but then again, they are called "A Series of Unfortunate Events"....
Anyone read them more thoroughly? (Beyond 'reading' all the pictures :-)
Tara
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Kate
Unregistered User
(7/31/01 6:00:18 pm)
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Vague memory
I've read some--witty, indeed dark. Quite cheeky and gloomy and interesting.
I also have the vaguest memory of a v. interesting article about the author, "Lemony Snicket" (obviously not his real name, which was revealed in the article but I can't find it, though I am fairly sure it was in the New York Times). He was quite smart. Not intentionally gimmicky. I will try to unearth the article and post a link.
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janeyolen
Unregistered User
(8/2/01 10:28:02 pm)
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Lemony
I read the first three books.
One has a certain anarchic charm, dark and silly. A send up all those nineteenth/early twentieth century orphan books.
But after that, all the jokes are repeated, and it gets predictable and boring. Imho, of course.
Jane
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Heidi
Unregistered User
(8/3/01 2:05:44 pm)
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Lemony Snicket
Jane beat me to my comments, mostly that they do get repetitive and they are a thorough send-up of the orphan tales from a century ago.
A fellow librarian sent the first book home with a kid who was depressed. The kid came back a few days later wanting more and explaining that she wasn't depressed anymore after reading the books. She loved the series.
One of my adult friends, however, doesn't like them and thinks they are horrible, all sad and depressing. She doesn't understand the appeal and sees no subtle humor in them.
I don't have a problem with them and find them rather amusing, but boring after a while. Guess I have read too many orphan books already. : ) Perhaps my favorite part of the series is calling it all "A series of unfortunate events!" That understatement is as funny as it gets.
So I am adding each new one to my collection at work, but not at home. I do hope Snicket and Co. decide to wrap it up sometime and with a happy ending..........
Heidi
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Heidi
Unregistered User
(8/3/01 2:13:14 pm)
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Back to topic, maybe
Gail,
Because I am horribly busy and perhaps a little lazy, could you please remind me which tales you are including in your new book? I am going to be looking through my notes and trying to update my own list of books soon, but knowing your tales might help me know what to pass along. (Help! Did that sentence make any sense? I am so tired, I can barely think today.)
I am also currently reading Patrice Kindl's "Goose Chase" which has lots of references to tales, so I wouldn't be able to place it in just one category. I like it well enough, but so far it doesn't have any extra umph to make me choose reading it over sleeping the past few nights. It reminds me in tone of Haddix's "Just Ella" for some reason. I must go back and find out why.
Heidi
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La
Reine Noire
Registered User
(8/8/01 6:59:44 pm)
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More Books...
I remember buying "Briar Rose" at the Holocaust Museum in D.C. when I was in eighth grade. That book had me sobbing my way through an eight-hour bus ride.
And I just read a few other books that I thought would fit this list.
"Daughter of the Forest" by Juliet Marillier - a very nicely written retelling of the "Six Swans" tale
"The Fire Rose" by Mercedes Lackey - An intriguing twist on "Beauty and the Beast"
Oh, and I found a lovely translation of the Arabian Nights by Jack Zipes...though it says Volume One on the cover. Is there a second volume, then? Because I found an epilogue at the end, so I wasn't sure.
~Kavita
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Gail
Unregistered User
(8/9/01 6:29:46 am)
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stories for young adults
Heidi, it is not for the present book that I need the tales (I just finished the final galleys and the book should be out later this fall. It is a follow up for New Tales for Old and discusses "Beauty and the Beast", "Jack" (of Beanstalk and Giant fame), "Little Mermaid", "Wild Swans", "Emperor's New Clothes", "Snow Queen" and the ballads "Tam Lin" and "Thomas the Rhymer.") -- and now to finish this very long sentence--it is for a revised edition of my first book: Storytelling for Young Adults. I am completely revising the book and only including stories that have been published in collections or excerpts from novels that have been published since 1990. (the first edition was published in 1991)
Basically I am looking for stories that would appeal to a young adult audience -- that are published in readily available editions that would appear in most school or public library collections -- and that are essentially "public domain". I do include excerpts as well.
The book does not include the stories (except for around 10 or so) but is basically an annotated bibliography that is arranged by theme/category etc.
A little background on myself may be of order here. I am a professional storyteller who focuses on the young adult audience and have traveled across North America conducting workshops and storytelling sessions about storytelling for young adults. I am the author of 5 books on storytelling -- and folklore -- aimed at the young adult audience, including a book on urban legends. I teach storytelling at the University of Alberta in Canada as well as courses on comic books (which is offered for the first time and is a distance education course)
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