10:30 a.m.-- First Panel, "The Kids Aren't Alright". Examination of various aspects of childrens lit. Mixture of Criticism & Fiction.
First Presentation-- Madeline Lesveque "Selected Short Fiction". Madeline's first story was a story about a young woman in the city, Seattle, experiencing and interacting with the cityscape. Her second story revolves around the Megan in Seattle talking to a woman with a southern accent about working in a hospital, Megan's job. The woman likens it to the popular t.v show "ER". It's really interesting hearing this juxtaposition of characters from the Pacific Northwest and the South. The interaction of characters really sets up a wide view of America. Third Story- Older people on a bench taking about the clash between their older views and contemporary society. Their pastor proposes that there will be violent backlash due to the rapid atomization of people through Ipods and such. "There ain't gonna be no music when someone's got a gun in your face." Q&A.
2nd Presentation-- MSU's own Taylor Moorman. "Skins of a Life" Erotic connections with animals in Children's Lit. Mention of stroking Lyra's daemon in His Dark Materials trilogy. "What is it about the beasts?" Why have they been relegated to Children's lit. and folklore? "Are these things for childrens or are they for all of us?" Children's lit. magnifies desires and anxieties. The Beast, from "Beauty and the Beast", embodies animal and human in one body. "Bringing the animal into the human realm to create one embodiment." Mention of Angela Carter. Personal ?-- Is Teen lit. the perfect forum for this discussion? In a nutshell, it seems that Taylor would like to open the discussion and availability of this erotic-animal theme in what is considered more adult literature.
3rd Presentation-- Emily Stueven (Panel Chair) "The Silly Little Boy". Story creating a character profile embodying Emily's future characters in her teaching pursuits, although, not set particularly in the classroom. James, a little boy, recounts experiences and awareness of death and he decides that he must no longer be a silly little boy. He also is called "the man of the house" by his Grandma after his father has to go to the hospital and eventually dies. The struggle between innocence and experience, immaturity and maturity, runs deep in this story. Also, story is coupled with maturation of knowledge from picture books to "chapter books". Reading becomes an escape and he becomes a reading addict... "21 books in a month". Concludes with an image of the child crushing a dead bug, which he used to cry over, and a mention of him being a big boy who reads chapter books. Story about kids growing up and kids growing up too soon. Very interesting perspective into the ways in which children develop a grasp of the world and learn to understand the ways to act-- and the story seems to even be a critique of that.
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