Blogger: Etta Wilson
Location: Books & Such Nashville Office
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Down at my second home, aka the nearest bookstore, I was looking for a few books I’d seen recommended recently. They were books for adults but with children in major roles. I’m always fascinated by how authors treat children in books for adults, and I think their number is increasing. I’ve previously mentioned Homer Hickam’s Rocket Boys and Tony Earley’s Jim the Boy, but there’s a new batch on the shelves.
Prolific bestselling author Jodi Picoult’s new book House Rules was released in March. It features a mother struggling with her son’s Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism. Unfortunately the incidence of Asperger’s is increasing. Even so, not every author of Picoult’s stature would choose to create a novel about such a subject.
Mystery writer John Hart’s newest book is The Last Child, also published in March. I haven’t read this one, but the reviews frighten me a bit. In fact, I have trouble reading or seeing any story in which children are victims or stranded without help.
Last November Liza Campbell’s A Charmed Life: Growing Up in MacBeth’s Castle was published. Campbell spent part of her childhood in the famous castle, and she writes about it well along with allusions to the Macbeth of Shakespeare vintage. Most of all, I loved this because it reminded me of a client’s manuscript about an American family that wound up staying in a strange castle.
Have I mentioned The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery in an earlier blog? It was published in French in 2006 and in English in 2008. I’m in the middle of it now. The interplay between Renee the concierge and Paloma the 12-year-old is both funny and heartbreaking with lots of sidelights and a strong French flavor.
It requires a certain level of skill–or some very vivid memory of how children act and talk as they develop–to create a child character in an adult novel. They can easily take center stage, and then you have a children’s book with adult characters.
What books have you read that included children characters who were portrayed well? (No fair listing To Kill a Mockingbird.)
Not sure twelve counts as a child, but I thought Elizabeth Berg did a good job with Katie in Durable Goods.
~ Wendy
The Secret Life of Bees had a young girl who was portrayed amazingly well.
I enjoyed Nick Hornby’s About a Boy. Marcus was a well-rounded character, wise in some ways, naive in others, that made him a believable 12-year-old boy.
Tomorrow River
LITTLE BEE, which broke my heart.
How could I have forgotten Secret Life of Bees??? Glad you mentioned that one, Teri.
Home Rules – fantastic book.
My dad had autism . The reasons for its occurrence were not clarified by the doctors – they stupidly did not interest anyone. Dad got sick after 70 years. After the official recognition of the disease, he lived for 7 years, which openly amazed the doctors. A possible reason for the onset of the disease was the presence of a pit with a pit depth of about 1.5 cm on the head, received during the war from the effects of trauma. I was interested in the possibility of my illness, because I am very similar in appearance to dad. Doctors from https://www.startstemcells.com/ answered me – since the disease developed after 70 years, it is not hereditary. So there is heredity to this terrible disease. But I think that with the help of modern stem cell therapy I will be able to live longer.