The major event of my birthday this year was going to another play but, unlike last year, this was at the Ivoryton Playhouse instead of on Broadway. We saw "An Inspector Calls." The play was very well acted and the plot was very suspenseful. The only drawback I can stress is that when the first act ends, there was some confusion as to if it was intermission or actually over. It could have been over but no one came out to give bows or anything. There was no mention of how many acts in the program as is usual and the director never gave a hint either way when she introduced it. It turned out all right but... This was the most "community theater" experience I've had here in Connecticut in that you could eat in the theater but the actors were still mostly professional. It was a very good time.
Yesterday, I went with my mother and a colleague of hers to a Christian Education conference. I personally went to a workshop on children's literature where most age appropriateness was discussed. Is Dragonwings appropriate for 4th graders, as assigned reading, and is Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants an appropriate novel for 10 year old 6 graders to read for fun? My thought is not yet to the first question though certainly later but the second is trickier in that, as I pointed out, innuendo is such that you either get it or you don't. The real issue is that parents feel that their children are growing up too fast which even as a causal observer I can see they are but forbidding children from reading such material really the way to go? Discuss.
Yesterday, I went with my mother and a colleague of hers to a Christian Education conference. I personally went to a workshop on children's literature where most age appropriateness was discussed. Is Dragonwings appropriate for 4th graders, as assigned reading, and is Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants an appropriate novel for 10 year old 6 graders to read for fun? My thought is not yet to the first question though certainly later but the second is trickier in that, as I pointed out, innuendo is such that you either get it or you don't. The real issue is that parents feel that their children are growing up too fast which even as a causal observer I can see they are but forbidding children from reading such material really the way to go? Discuss.
Comments
1. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!
2. DRAGONWINGS is one of the best books of all time.
Fourth grade seems kind of early imo. I also disagree that THE GIVER is often taught in 6th grade. There's no way the kids are sophisticated enough to appreciate all the awesomeness in the THE GIVER. I'd like to teach that to kids in high school... I think the girls in SISTERHOOD are significantly older than 10 years old, so even for free reading it seems like it shouldn't be on a list for that grade level. I'm not saying that the kids can't read it, but there's a certain resposibility a school has when creating a list even for pleasure reading...
So I guess I had 3 things to say. What kind of cake did you get? HAPPY BIRTHDAY again!!!! :D