My sister, the educator, was grousing this week about an interesting blog post (sorry to say, not one of mine) on the question of whether Middle Grade and Young Adult books have gotten too “dark” for their target audience. The post’s author made an eloquent argument to justify the current “serious” themes but Sis’s response was “There has to be a happy [book], every now and then. Well, that surprised me because my sister dear has never shied away from kids’ books with dramatic stories and tragic elements. She’s the one who turned me on to Harry Potter and The Graveyard Book (great stories that both start out with murders) and as a teenager, she devoured every Judy Blume YA story-with-a-taboo as soon as it came out. So I had to ask: “What’s the problem? You like dark.” “Of course I do” she said. “But every story pushed at kids right now right now is all about dark issues. It’s dystopias and addiction and depression and death. Every once in a while, people need to laugh too, you know?” “Well, yeah” I replied. “But didn’t the books you loved best as a kid usually bring on the tears?” (I wasn’t ready to concede.)…
Years ago, when my sister and I were first getting acquainted as adults (a process quite different than growing up together) we discussed a book called Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. Barb and I agreed it was very good but my sister added, “It doesn’t compare to the author’s first book, The Silver Crown.” I had missed that kid’s book and couldn’t imagine how anything could approach the charm of NIMH. “Try The Silver Crown and see” Barb said. “You’ll like it, it’s scary as all get out.” As usual, my sister was right. The Silver Crown is, I suppose, a modern fairy-tale. A young girl, Ellen Carroll, wakes on her birthday to find a crown made of dense silver material beside her bed. She takes the crown outdoors to enjoy some solitude and returns to find her home afire and her family gone. As the day goes on it becomes very clear that the fire was the first step in someone’s campaign to capture Ellen and her crown. Ellen has to run and stay one step ahead of her enemies in order to survive. It isn’t easy. The thing is, while The Silver Crown has some very…