...of you and me

[threemonkeys]

It is a perfectly valid thing to do to make assumptions. It is just not valid to rely to heavily on one being correct. Over the years I have heard a number of children's or YA books being described as "works for adults too". Those descriptions are usually proved correct when I read the books in question. The authors have the skill to make their work appeal at multiple levels. The assumption I made about Un Lun Dun was author China Mieville would be the sort of writer who would attempt to make his work accessible in this way. I based this on the complexity of his adult fantasy novels. Un Lun Dun is advertised as being for younger readers. In my estimation it certainly is for younger readers - I would say about readers about 10-12 years old. The thing is, it does not really work for older readers. The layers I assumed would be there were not present. I could see the odd piece of writing where I think the author was attempting it, but it does not string together into a whole. It was all a bit flat and simple for me really.

So how was it as a book for kids? The thing is, I'm not sure I am qualified to comment. If you are looking for a fantasy for your 10 year old that tells a story in an alternative London, the only thing I can comment is that at 500 pages it seems awfully long for the target audience. If it helps, Mark the YA buyer at Dymocks-Wellington thinks it is pretty good without being great.

Comments

books for YA

[roaring40s.livejournal.com]

I don't think the 500 pages is a problem - look how long Harry Potters are and kids race through them. My Edward (7 1/2) has just read his first decent-length book at 224 pages and now is starting on 6 Star Wars books - yay, he likes SF!
I might look at Un Lun Dun. I have to read a genre for my library paper and of course chose SF. I'm getting to read a whole bunch of books I missed as a kid but want to read new ones too.
Pam

Re: books for YA

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

I was thinking about the Harry Potter books and their size when I mentioned the length of the book. What was in my mind was that those books have become thicker as the series has progressed. But what occurred to me about HP in this context was that the age of the characters grows as the series progresses and there are aspects of the writing that get older as well. You could potentially use the HP books as a guide to the age of other books. So, Un Lun Dun is a Philosophers Stone level book but it is as thick as Goblet of Fire.

Well, it was just a passing thought.