Fegan - For our first book discussion, we are taking a look a new series by Lincoln Pierce.
Squirt - Dude, you spelled his name wrong
Fegan - Did not.
Squirt - Did so. It's PEIrce.
Fegan - I belIEve it's "i before e except after c".
Freaky - "Or when sounding like 'a' as in 'neighbor' and 'weigh'."
Fegan - Yes, thank-you.
Squirt - But that's not how HE spells it. Wouldn't he know how to spell his own name?
(pause while turtles peruse book cover, bio, AND media release)
Fegan - Okay, so today we are discussing a new series, Big Nate, by Lincoln Peirce.
Squirt - Except that Big Nate isn't really new, just the books.
Fegan - Are you going to argue with everything I say today?
Squirt - Are you going to keep being wrong? (ducks flipper) Sorry! Sorry! I'm just saying. Big Nate has been a comic strip for a long time now.
Freaky - A very funny one. So did we expect the book to be funny, too?
Fegan - Yes, and it was. Some of us had reservations at first.
Squirt - It looked like copying. I hate copying.
Fegan - And who did you think it was copying?
Squirt - Jeff Kinney and his "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series.
Fegan - And what did we find out?
Squirt - Dude, you aren't my teacher or my Dad, stop talking to me like that.
Fegan - If you'll agree not to call me "Dude" again.
Squirt - Agreed. Anyway, Jeff Kinney absolutely LOVES Big Nate comics, and has for a long time. So, if anything, his writing might have been influenced by Peirce's, and not the other way around.
Freaky - Either way, it's a great book, and I'm looking forward to the next one; "Big Nate Strikes Again", due out in October.
Fegan - I'm looking forward to having something else to hand kids looking for "The Diary of a Wimpy Kid".
Squirt - Or fans of Captain Underpants.
Freaky - Is there anyone who wouldn't like Big Nate?
Squirt - Teachers.
Freaky - Certain kinds of teachers. Teachers who are a little too uptight and probably shouldn't be teaching any more.
Squirt - I had one of those.
Freaky - I think we all have - but some are pretty cool, too.
Squirt - And if they really are cool, they'll get this book for their classroom!
Freaky - Well, there you have it, folks - and if you can't trust an adolescent turtle, who can you trust?
I had a kid come up and ask me "isn't it wrong to make a book that's just like another one?" He was very worried about it. Probably because I've been booktalking it as "diary of a wimpy kid with a different cover". But I showed him Kinney's blurb and then he relaxed.
ReplyDelete