Lorri Lynch in USA Weekend's popular "The Who's News Blog," talked to Stephen King last week. I love King's comments about popular writers:
"Somebody who’s a terrific writer who’s been very, very successful is Jodi Picoult. You’ve got Dean Koontz, who can write like hell. And then sometimes he’s just awful. It varies. James Patterson is a terrible writer but he’s very very successful. People are attracted by the stories, by the pace and in the case of Stephenie Meyer, it’s very clear that she’s writing to a whole generation of girls and opening up kind of a safe joining of love and sex in those books. It’s exciting and it’s thrilling and it's not particularly threatening because they’re not overtly sexual. A lot of the physical side of it is conveyed in things like the vampire will touch her forearm or run a hand over skin, and she just flushes all hot and cold. And for girls, that’s a shorthand for all the feelings that they’re not ready to deal with yet."
When Jon was in graduate school he took a course in children's literature. Many of his classmates were librarians and teachers. These educators told how Stephen King's books were literally "used to pieces" by their students. Most of these educators loved King's writing--some did not. What they all agreed on was that Steven King GOT KIDS TO READ. For that , he should be canonized.
3 days ago
2 comments:
I agree...although I teach hs biology, I'm on my kids all the time to read. The research says the benefits come from any form of reading, even the newspaper, even crappy vampire novels, believe it or not, just as long as they're doing it.
I think Stephen King has got it right. Everything he said about Jodi Picoult, Dean Koontz, and James Patterson is all true. What he also mentions in that interview with Lorri is that J. K. Rowling is a terrific writer, while Stephenie Meyer can't write. She's not very good. And I 100% agree with that.
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