Zodiac House: Dog Chapter

[mrissa]

So with most of my list completed, I went and worked on this next chapter, and I got it done, and so here we are. (For anybody just stopping in, I'm writing a children's book whose chapters are centered around the signs of the Chinese zodiac. I'm musing about children's books centered around each sign as I finish the corresponding chapter.)

The dog page at the CCC says, People born in the Year of the Dog possess the best traits of human nature. They have a deep sense of loyalty, are honest, and inspire other people¡¦s confidence because they know how to keep secrets. But Dog People are somewhat selfish, terribly stubborn, and eccentric. There's more than that, but I'm already caught: children's books focus nearly obsessively on dog virtues. Honesty, loyalty, and being able to keep secrets appropriately: is there anything more scorned in children's books than a tattletale? Maybe a crybaby, but that's about it.

So very many children's books -- even the ones that are not excessively didactic -- focus around lessons of loyalty. Standing by your friends. Is this wish-fulfillment for bookish kids who don't have many friends or who have found the playground particularly fickle? I have to say that loyalty was not a prime virtue of the kids I knew when I was little. What else are children's books implicitly teaching at that level of focus? (Not a rhetorical question -- please discuss.)

Comments

[aszanoni.livejournal.com]

Well, the ones I consider as kids' books - Bobbsey Twins, Boxcar Children - I don't remember any more...

But I totally agree about seeing the scorn for tattletales and crybabies. How do people expect kids to know what secrets are appropriate to keep when they aren't to tell? This troubles me as I get older.

Various DWJ books have the children who keep secrets in this wise; they don't tattle because One Doesn't, and yet it's something important being withheld. Of course that's part of what they're learning - how to know when you shouldn't keep silent. Worse is when they're surrounded by adults who aren't listening.

I expect that's something children notice, in and out of fiction - how adults as a rule don't listen. :<

I also wonder about the other side of the bookish child - alienation. Staying silent not to keep secrets but to avoid hurt by trying to befriend and trust someone. Why cope with them if/when your differences will always be thrust into your face?

I can't say that the latter is something being encouraged. But I wonder.

- Chica

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Do you see it being neutrally portrayed or discouraged in kids' books? Or are you just not thinking of fictional examples at all, only real ones?

[aszanoni.livejournal.com]

No, I was thinking of these things in fiction and in real life.

Susan Cooper did another great book (_King of Shadows_) about being a lonely kid. I don't remember if he was alienated or grieving; must re-read it.

My reading of kids' books is a trifle random. When I was a teen, the Earthsea books were sf/f, not kids' books. Everything Earthsea is right next to L'Engle now.

I'll have to think about the first question further.

- Chica