The gwenyth swain Blog

Third vs. First, in Fiction New and Old

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:07:07 -0500

As a part-time library aide in a middle school, I’m surprised at how much teen and young adult fiction is written in the first person. I know the reigning conventional wisdom states that first-person narration is more compelling, more intimate, more affecting.Yet, a new book I read and an old book I’ve listened to, read aloud, have given me plenty of reasons to challenge that conventional thought.

Operation Yes! by Sara Lewis Holmes was published in 2009. This contemporary novel takes an old-fashioned approach to narrating the story of students in classroom on a military base. The third-person narration allows the reader to brush up close, looking over the shoulders and into the hearts of selected characters as they deal with important issues: the deployment of a parent, the crushing injuries suffered by a sibling, the uncertainty of war. This classroom story had me in tears by the end, and I never missed a first-person narrator.

Similarly, as I have been listening to my husband read aloud Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables to our children, I’ve been struck by how deftly Montgomery creates characters you care about while using the third person. I’ve rarely felt that I’ve “known” a character better than I know Anne Shirley. Her personality jumps off the page through her words and actions. We don’t need to hear Anne’s inner thoughts; Montgomery has already shown us as much as we need to love her main character.

Both books are a pleasure to read—and wonderful reminders that third-person narratives can go straight to the heart.

Any questions or comments? Just send me an email.

Congratulations, Barb Sommer

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 10:55:54 -0600

Late last month, the finalists for the Minnesota Book Awards were announced. This time around, I have the pleasure of knowing an author whose work was nominated for the best adult book on Minnesota. That’s Barb Sommer, and her book is Hard Work and a Good Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps in Minnesota (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2008).

Sommer is an oral historian by training, and she spent years interviewing men who, as teens and young men, took part in the Civilian Conservation Corps in Minnesota. The breadth of Sommer’s research is impressive. But what’s really great is how she lets you hear the voices of “the boys,” as the men called themselves. You learn of their family’s struggles and of their own adjustments to working hard all day planting trees or building structures in Minnesota’s state parks.

Full disclosure: I know this book up close and personal because I was a freelance editor on the project, working with Barb and the Minnesota Historical Society Press staff. Here’s a good luck wish for Barb, MHS Press, and “the boys” to win the award on Saturday, April 25, 2009.

Any questions or comments? Just send me an email.

Meet the Willoughbys & Willowbys

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 13:57:23 -0500

What’s in a name? Tons! I’m one of those writers (and readers) who believes that a great deal of a character’s character is revealed by his or her name. And one of my favorite names in children’s fiction lately has been Willoughby/Willowby.

Most recently, Lois Lowry has published the delightfully daffy middle-grade novel, The Willoughbys. It’s a fantastic read-aloud about a family of, for all intents and purposes, orphaned children named Willoughby. That there’s also a character named Baby Ruth just adds to the fun. Perhaps the best part of Lowry’s tale is how she plays on the reader’s expectations of what “should” happen in a story, particularly in an “old-fashioned” kind of story, as this one is.

Lowry’s book reminded me of another great old-fashioned read-aloud gem, for much younger children. Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree by Robert Barry was originally published in 1963. After languishing in out-of-print-land for years, it was revived in part due to a concerted effort by bookseller fans. Why did they work so hard to see this book resurrected? In part, it’s because this book has a rhyming text that actually works. It reads beautifully, with a fast or nearly frantic pace, and the pen and ink illustrations add immeasurably to the fun.

Any questions or comments? Just send me an email.

Reading Queen

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:14:04 -0500

I love to read, but I’m a pretty “common” reader: someone who takes off on great, rabid reading jags, after months of carrying around the same partially read novel.

Alan Bennett, in a short and lovely book, asks us to suppose that a very “uncommon” person has joined the ranks of readers. In her later years, Queen Elizabeth II, in the pages of The Uncommon Reader, accidentally makes contact with a mobile library (aka bookmobile). The Queen is surprised to find one idling behind the kitchens at Buckingham Palace. Unfailingly polite, she feels she must check out a book. And so begins a funny and touching look at how reading can take you far, even to the point of nearly overpowering you.

Bennett uses this slim novella to explore how we read, what affect our reading journeys can have upon us and the people around us, and what it means to read deliberately. In the process, he presents the reader with beautifully crafted prose.

Check it out!

Any questions or comments? Just send me an email. Still to come, a look at various Willoughbys...

This Blog Has Been on Break...

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:24:03 -0500

If you’re a regular visitor, you may have noticed that the blog has been, well, under-performing lately. It’s been on summer break, taking in the sights in Rome (above) and elsewhere. As you can guess, it’s hard to get back to blogging after you’ve seen Paree--and Rome and beautiful Barcelona. But look for an entry on various Willoughbys soon.

In the meantime, enjoy the last of summer!

Any questions or comments? Just send me an email.