Carter Heer

@JacobLasby #285WLU10 I forgot that I was supposed to be reading a "tween" book midway through this text. It feels like an adult biography without going into too much detail. That says a lot about the setting and characters, I think.

Beah’s text really holds a lot of respect for its audience. He doesn’t shy away from telling the details of his story while others might have tried to lessen the the severity of the details he knows tweens can handle it as he did himself #285WLU10

#285WLU10 I feel like our latest book carries an extra sting compared to previous ones if only because it takes place in a very real Hellish environment. War is a difficult enough topic to tackle when the characters are adults. Throw kids into the equation and it's so much worse

@SimranMannEN285 #285WLU9 That is very true. Tweens are just figuring out the kind of people they want to be and who they want to emulate, so siblings are either going to be biggest help or the biggest hindrance in that journey, depending on how good their relationship is.

#285WLU9 I'm not entirely sure if Brown Girl Dreaming is a novel, a poetry book or both. If nothing else, it's a fairly engaging period piece about the formative years of a minority within minorities. I guess Jehovah's Witnesses don't lead easy lives. I wouldn't know.

@classtweets285 #285WLU8 I think it's a very important step in designing an engaging protagonist: have them work for what they want. It's also a good parenting ethic, as far as I know. It helps people appreciate what they have more when it's been earned. A bit of a life lesson.

I think it's interesting that so much of the novel emphasizes education, generally and in reference to Bod's magic, as far as I can tell he isn't just given talents - he has to work for them #285WLU8

#285WLU8 Ah yes, your typical portrayal of growing up: supernatural powers and stopping a conspiracy to commit murder. I find it interesting that this piece of tween literature ends with the main character "growing out" of the graveyard. Symbolism? I'm almost certain.

@BlazeWelling #285WLU7 It is an inevitability. I find that it's probably best that children know of its' existence early on so that they know how to deal with it should it come up with a friend or family member. That's why I give props to kids' films that deal with that tastefully.

There's a really interesting reversal within Gaiman's book Death appears to be the sphere of comfort for the tween figure, whereas the world beyond the graveyard poses more risk. It seems like this could be an attempt to present death as less ominous to the tween reader. #285WLU7

#285WLU7 This book features a protagonist that borders two worlds: the living and the dead. One could make the argument that this is representative of the "awkward middle stage" tweens occupy between child and teenager. The gothic setting probably attracts edgy kids too.

@En285Nolan #285WLU6 IMO, it's the parents' duty to make sure their children are consuming the proper media. If Little Timmy is playing GTA V instead of Super Mario Bros, then someone made a mistake. It is interesting how parents seem to have shirked that responsibility, though.

Linn addressed the dangers violent video games have on tweens. Similarly, Graham mentions concerns parents had in regards to rock n roll manipulating their kids. I wonder how these two forms of media contrast with eachother and how they've impacted generations of youth. #285WLU6

#285WLU6 I think the problem with marketing towards children so heavily is that it spoils innocence for them. When from the moment you can read you're bombarded with ads coercing you to buy crap you don't need, you've seen what the rest of your life is going to be like.

@Courtney_D_Reid An all-too-common mindset for most of history, sad to say. It does make you wonder how he and Ella's mother ended up together in the first place. Did he trick her, convince her into conceiving a potential asset, or did he just change for the worse? #285WLU5

#285WLU5 The more stories I read, the more I realize how parental figures are the most common villain in children's media. I'm not sure if that's because it's a corruption of the safety found in a good parent, or a power fantasy where kids can look down on their superiors.

@AlexiaGalloro #285WLU4 It feels to me like the writer wanted to rewrite Cinderella, but provide explanations for a lot of the leaps in logic that are commonplace in old fairy tales. The "replacement authority" idea is interesting. Did the fairy predict the mom's death?

#285WLU4 Ella Enchanted AKA Cinderella: The Extended Cut. I believe this is what they call a "modern reimagining" of a fairy tale. I just finished a course all about those. I still feel like it's become more common to "reimagine" these stories than to tell the originals.

@Areejkhalid99 #285WLU3 A more personal connection definitely helps in keeping an audience engaged. It makes it seem more genuine when emotions run high and the climax rears its head. This especially helps when the intended reader is a child.

#285WLU3 From Harriet to Snicket, the stakes have been raised significantly. This is very much an adventure book rather than a coming-of-age novel. It shows that Snicket respects his readers' intelligence given that the perilous situations are not dumbed down for kids.

@EmilySavoie3 Harriet would have almost no problem getting into contact with Ole Golly thanks to cell phones and the Internet, I'd say. Maybe the plot would be similar to the 2010 film Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars that exists for some reason. #285WLU2

#285WLU2 Reading this book made me realize how much of my Tween days I've forgotten. I feel like I should understand Harriet's sudden mean streak after being discovered but I have no idea where it came from. I almost thought she was being built up as a sociopath but no.

@ChrisXu_ I believe Harriet's life has been a consistent cycle of lacking guidance, which has led her to odd habits such as her "spying" and looking down upon the adults in her life like Ole Golly.

#285WLU1 I was trying to pin down where Harriet lives throughout my time reading it and I'm yet to figure that out. Her constant need to know what everyone is up to points to a poor experience involving misinformation or lies. I wonder if that will be a "twist" later.