Where were all the great
adventure books for kids when we were growing up? I'm talking about books for
the 10-14 year old reader. I'm talking about stories we could have identified
with when we were that age. A difficult age. Not really a child but not an
adult. There have always been lots of stories for little kids. What happened to
the interesting books when we were in fifth through ninth grades?
The adults in our lives told us
to read or gave us books like Robinson
Crusoe, Robin Hood, Little Women—classics that were written long
before our time and in a manner that required so much concentration we lost
sight of the story. Where were the books written in our time? The only ones I remember were stories about
teen girls in early Michigan by Elizabeth Howard, like Peddlar's Girl and North
Winds Blow Free.
Maybe there were other books
written then that I knew nothing about. We lived in a rural area where the
library for our school (2 whole classrooms for K-8th grades) consisted
of a 3-shelf bookcase in each room. The public library was ten miles away. The county
bookmobile came to our school once a month, I think, or maybe twice. My
grandmother always sent a book for birthdays and Christmas. I know she meant
well, but the books were the above-mentioned classics that never held my
interest. While I enjoyed my mom's Nancy Drew collection, the books were
written in the 1930s—more than a little before my time. A rumble seat? Ri-ight. I could really identify with that.
Where were the Harry Potters, the
Katniss Everdeens, the Percy Jacksons, the Gallagher Girls? Today's books have
characters who act and sound like contemporary kids. They have fantastic
adventures. Their lives have at least a touch of reality that the reader can
identify with. More than anything, though, I think it's the voice in which the stories are written
that captures the reader's attention. The classics were written in the style of
their time—the 1800s. They weren't classics then. They were just good stories.
Then.
I am fascinated by all the books
available for kids today. How to choose what to read next must be a problem for
them. What a problem to have! Maybe an interested teacher or librarian who knows a kid well enough will
recommend one—the way the bookmobile librarian did for me with the Elizabeth
Howard books. More likely, it's one of their friends saying, "Hey, you gotta
read this."
How I envy them this wealth of
books. Or not. I can read those books, too.
What books do you remember from
your pre- or early teen years?
