David Lubar ([info]davidlubar) wrote,
@ 2008-08-21 11:40:00
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Yahoodathunkit?
After joking a bit about frantic last-minute summer reading, I was amused to see the following question on Yahoo Answers: "Where can I read Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie?"

That's when inspiration struck and I though of a great new time waster. I started putting the titles of various books into Yahoo Answers, trying to pick ones that would be on summer reading lists. I found the sort of question you might expect, such as "What is the theme of this book?" But I also found an amazing variety of questions that went far beyond this. The results are either amusing or alarming. I haven't quite decided.

Here are just three, presented without comment. I could do a bunch, but it's a lot more fun to discover them on your own. If you find a gem, please share it.

How is the novel Speak (Laurie Halse Anderson) an example of the "paradise lost" archetype?

What does the snow in the snowball fight in chapter five of the Catcher in the Rye symbolize?

How do I answer these Breathing Underwater questions in third person ?

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[info]halseanderson
2008-08-21 04:04 pm UTC (link)
I have no idea how Speak is an example of the "paradise lost" archetype.

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[info]thunderchikin
2008-08-21 04:27 pm UTC (link)
I do! I do! The central character in SPEAK is a fallen angel who wanders about her life seemingly alone but at the same time gathering a cadre of followers who will help her bring a form a redemption to those who have watched her in silence but chose either out of fear or apathy not to act. School acts a metaphor for Pandemonium, where all of the forces of evil have gathered to test and then be tested by our hero. Plus, there's artwork. Sadly, there is no cheese. I like cheese.

Edited at 2008-08-21 04:30 pm UTC

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[info]halseanderson
2008-08-21 05:08 pm UTC (link)
Wow.

Is this what I missed by writing instead of paying attention in English class?

And I was told there would be cheese. There should always be cheese. And bacon.

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[info]thunderchikin
2008-08-21 07:39 pm UTC (link)
It's my own literary theory. I call it New Cheddarism.

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[info]alixwrites
2008-08-22 01:28 am UTC (link)
Hey, to me, you *are* the Cheese.

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[info]davidlubar
2008-08-21 09:06 pm UTC (link)
I guess you weren't paying enough attention when you wrote it.

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[info]alixwrites
2008-08-21 04:37 pm UTC (link)
LOL. I love Yahoo Answers. I once answered a question about one of my books, DIVA, which shows I have too much time on my hands, right?

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[info]davidlubar
2008-08-21 11:22 pm UTC (link)
I answer questions about your books all the time. It's fun making stuff up.

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[info]alixwrites
2008-08-22 01:26 am UTC (link)
My favorite question that I found today was someone who asked about FADE TO BLACK. Someone else answered with regard to the movie of the same title (which was not, alas, based upon my book). It got voted "Best Answer." Ain't the Internet great?

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[info]kellyrfineman
2008-08-21 08:17 pm UTC (link)
S is reading (use of present tense intentional, although a bit misleading because mostly, she's NOT reading) The Once and Future King. She is pleased because it is understandable and she's enjoying the story. She is supposed to deduce the author's position on education based on what he says about Merlin. I'm not certain that it was the author's intention to set forth any position on education whatsoever, but that is her assignment nevertheless.

I am glad Dave could answer the Speak question, because I was stumped, what with nobody being cast out of heaven or chained on a bed of molten lava, to my knowledge.

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[info]davidlubar
2008-08-21 09:08 pm UTC (link)
Wouldn't that be Milton lava?

I loved The Once and Future King when I read it.

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[info]wordsrmylife
2008-08-21 09:47 pm UTC (link)
Me, too on the Once and Future King. I even re-read it and enjoyed it the second time, too.

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[info]llemma
2008-08-21 09:13 pm UTC (link)
I don't know -- that's a lot for a kid to analyze independently and articulate, but at the same time it's hard to read those Merlin sections and not come away thinking, "I can't believe MY teachers expect me to learn from reading about stuff instead of turning into it."

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[info]wordsrmylife
2008-08-21 09:48 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, wouldn't that put a lot of them out of a job?

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[info]llemma
2008-08-22 11:31 am UTC (link)
I suppose -- but what I meant was -- the author does seem to put forth some pretty clear ideas on education if you're in the habit of looking for that sort of thing. Which middle schoolers completing summer reading admittedly probably aren't.

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[info]writerjenn
2008-08-21 11:31 pm UTC (link)
I've read Catcher in the Rye a bajillion times, and I don't even remember a snowball fight.

You should invent some questions about your own books, asking people to draw parallels between Hidden Talents and Shakespeare, for example. "How is Martin like Hamlet?"

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[info]kymbrunner
2008-08-22 01:09 am UTC (link)
Sheesh - didn't these kids ever hear of Spark notes?

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[info]alixwrites
2008-08-22 01:28 am UTC (link)
That's the beauty of using YA lit instead of assigning tired old tomes -- no Cliff's Notes.

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(Anonymous)
2008-08-22 10:57 am UTC (link)
The tomes are only as tired as the teacher.

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[info]alixwrites
2008-08-22 05:34 pm UTC (link)
Could argue this forever (but it wasn't really the point). Nothing wrong with classics, for the right reader. But there are some teens who are simply going to choose not to read if that is what is assigned. They might be better served by more current literature, as my mail and others' indicates on a daily basis.

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