Finding Your Voice…

I just read Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys. Such a good, funny and thought provoking read. You know one of those in which you sense hidden depths of meaning that you’re not sure you can quite grasp. At the end Fat Charlie (no not the Fat Lady) sings. He finds his voice. A lovely metaphor for finding himself. Andrew Norriss has found his voice too. In each new book it is a little clearer and his stories become more and more wonderful. Ctrl-Z (the undo shortcut on a computer keyboard…) is his latest. It doesn’t come out until March but you can read a sneak peak on my website http://anorrissbooks.wordpress.com/. Neil Gaiman and Andrew Norriss are both examples of fine fantasy writers whose fantasy worlds blend very nicely with real life and who subtly ponder the meaning of life.
Back to Anansi Boys – ‘By the windmills of Babyland he sat and wept’! Such a genius play on words if you get it, and if you don’t, you don’t know what you’ve missed.

Victim/Rescuer as hero?

(If you are looking for info about Andrew Norriss click here)

I find the use of Archetypes in stories most interesting A few popular examples :

Gandalf – the Wizard-as-advisor

Romeo and Juliet – the ill-fated (“star-crossed”) lovers 

Indiana Jones – The Swashbuckler

Buffy, the Vampire Slayer - the Crusader,

Harry Potter – the reluctant hero

Jane Eyre = the Waif

In Cinderella we have a fine example of The Drama Triangle of victim (Cinderella), persecutor (step sisters)  and rescuer (Prince Charming)

- -and I wonder what our approval or disapproval of archetypal characters in fiction reveals about our own beliefs and outlook on life; and also how our tastes change as we grow up. …When young my favourite fairy tale was Rapunzle – the girl locked in a high tower who was rescued by a prince. I’ve outgrown it now – well I’ve was rescued and have now lived happily ever after for many years!- and I’ve also learnt a lot since then. Now, the Victim as hero stories are no longer my personal favourites and after reading this article on Truth or Tradition I understood more clearly why not. Here’s an abbreviated extract:  

‘Dramatic tension is created by establishing the villain’s character, and causing the reader or viewer to identify with the victim or victims. To resolve this mounting tension, a Rescuer must be introduced…..   Victims can be angry or pathetic. The Pathetic Victim seeks pity and sympathy, whereas the Angry Victim postures himself as powerful by using phrases such as “You are not going to do it to me again” or “You’re bad.” Both Victim versions are looking for someone to blame for the emotions they are having and why things are not as they wish…….The Rescuer position, or Good Guy, tries to alleviate feelings of guilt and “being bad” by doing “good.” The payoff for the Rescuer is the good feeling that comes from the belief that he is the unselfish one in the situation. …..one can base a sense of self on being “unselfish” or “good,” instead of valuing authentic selfhood and one’s own goals…. The price of being a Rescuer is ignoring one’s own feelings and thoughts in favour of maintaining an image of “goodness” for self and others.’

Stories where victims are rescued from villains by heroes are very popular especially when so well written as they are by Michael Morpurgo, but as I say they are not to my taste. I prefer books like those by Andrew Norriss in which the characters are the heroes of their own lives. They promote the value of authentic selfhood. ‘Bad‘ things may appear to happen to them but they are not victims. They don’t need to be rescued but instead they seek help. They puzzle out how to improve their lives or circumstances; they make mistakes, learn from their experiences and then get up and try again. They end up happier, more self reliant and less dependent. They are more able to cope with set backs. They make positive contributions to the lives of others without becoming the rescuer themselves and without being goody goodies, in fact they get up to quite a lot of mischief, though never malicious. These are the books that lead children to think about their weaknesses and discover and build on their inner strengths. And at the same time they are wonderfully imaginative adventure stories, written with humour and a light touch and as one review said they wear their morals lightly. As a result children love them and they are all shortlisted for Children’s Book Awards in schools and libraries around the country. To find out more about Andrew Norriss’s books and book awards go to http://anorrissbooks.wordpress.com/  He’s a genius and I love him!

The genius that is Terry Pratchett

I can still remember clearly that day in 1984, when I picked up The Colour of Magic, my first Terry Pratchett book. I was on the library van, with babe in arms and picked up this little paperback with a most unusual, slightly racey looking cover and thought it worth a try. Well, now, 24 years later, the babe is now as big a fan as I am, and I find reading Nation is almost too much to bear. It makes me laugh, it makes me to cry, it makes me think. What more can a book offer? Why is the man not knighted? His gift to the world in the Disc World books, Wee Free Men trilogy and now Nation is so wonderful. Thankyou for enriching my life Mr Pratchett.  In each book you can almost hear him thinking, puzzling out life., wondering what it’s for, how does it work, is there a God or gods or what… I know that Andrew Norriss, my most favourite author of all, doesn’t read Pratchett when he is writing a book himself.

A truly great writer like Terry Pratchett or Andrew Norriss is one who has found their own authentic voice. and has something worthwhile to say.  A writer’s voice is a subtle combination of style, language, plotting and belief. How my heart rejoices when I find an author whose voice is one I enjoy. I feel in safe hands in the knowledge that I know how the book will feel, the kind of plot that will unfold and the surety of a satisfying ending. Successful writers  I suppose, are those whose voice speaks to a lot of people – together with the luck of being recognised by the big buyers so that the books are discovered.

Terry Pratchett is a mega success with brilliant books sold in huge numbers around the world. Andrew Norriss is a successful writer because his stories  enrich children’s lives and encourage them to read more.  I have to wait a long time for a new Pratchett but Ctrl-Z, the new book by Andrew Norriss will be out on 5th March. not too long to wait… and you can read chapter 1 now on http://anorrissbooks.wordpress.com/!

Empowering Books for Children

Life is full of challenges which are often seen as problems, – or projects as Steve Chandler calls them. The way in which we deal with them can lead to a very different attitude to life – or is it that our attitude to life leads us to deal with challenges differently?  We can be victims or survivors, losers or champions. We can be overcome or overwhelmed. . How to deal with life’s challenges is not something we are deliberately taught in school but rather pick up by chance from teachers, parents, friends, books and movies by observing how others act or react in different situations. Andrew Norriss’s books fall into the category of books that help us see difficult situations in a new light.Problems can be turned into postive experiences with life changing results and the self empowerment of the heroes. In Andrew Norriss’s books ordinary children find themselves in extraordinary circumstances. At first sight they may seem to be quite overwhelming problems - in The Portal, William and Daniel’s parents have gone missing; In The Unluckiest Boy in the World Nicholas is living under a curse. In both stories adventures happen, the difficulties are explored and the children learn more about themselves. They discover their hidden strengths and come to greater understanding of how it is possible to live happy lives even when circumstances do not appear to be in your favour. Bad things may happen but you can come through stronger and happier and with knowledge to help understand how there is the potential to live happily wherever you are.

Anyone read Sara by  Abraham -Hicks? Similarly about selfempowerment but in a more direct way. I loved it but don’t know how it would go down with children. Would love to know if you have experience of it.

Does what we read vary with economic conditions?

As fashion in clothes varies in relation to the economic climate – hemlines go up and down, the showing off of expensive underware when times are good, dressing more modestly when we have less to spend, so, I wonder does our reading vary similarly. I have noticed over recent years of booming economy, lots of money in pockets and general feeling of wealth that children’s books have tended towards the tension filled, violent, urban, vengeful where the heroes and heroines are either vicitms or have to be bigmouthed, urban, spunky, not very nice themselves, saving themselves or the whole world from bullies or baddies who are so evil as to be ridiculous. Swearing, knives, emotions of the soap and tabloid press world abound; being nice is sneered at; being ‘Right’ is what counts and the main characters know exactly what is ‘Right’ and anyone with a different idea of right is wrong.

This is not a world that I am familiar with and certainly not one that I want to spend time in. Perhaps when times are good and comfortable we don’t feel we deserve to enjoy what we have and so have to read about how miserable life could be, and so I hope that now as we perceive times as being tough we can once more reading good stories about how life can be positive and enjoyable, a learning and growing experience yes but it doesn’t have to be lived out in grim surrounding with horrible people. Ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. Working out how to be happy.  And that’s where I come back to Andrew Norriss’s books. Books in which the adventures are every bit as good as the grim books but are fun to read as well being about learning and growing, how to adapt to life and get the most out of it. About finding out what you really want to do. Discovering how to be happy in difficult circumstances. How you can be the creator of your own life. How you don’t have to let your life be run through your unexamined emotions. Books that leave you feeling good about yourself and the world and life. Books that leave you thinking about what it would be fun to go and do in contrast to those books that leave you feeling depressed and wanting to curl up miserably in a darkened room.

So the good news about these ‘economic times of crisis’ we get to read some cheerful books again. Hooray! Now’s the time to buy Andrew Norriss’s books for cheerful Christmas presents. The children will love them. The parents will love them. The grandparents will love them. And everyone is left feeling uplifted.  So it’s a happy Christmas all round – unless there aren’t enough books to go round and everyone starts fighting over them…

Award Winning books

Aquila by Andrew Norriss won the Whitbread children’s Book Award. Books win big prizes like this for a reason and Aquila  stands on its own as a book to inspire and encourage children to think about what they want to do in life and what is important, whilst at the same time being a cracking good fun adventure story. Another thing about Award winners is that they can be enjoyed by any age group. Aquila was written for children but parents, grandparents and adults in general all enjoy it too. It gives you something to think about, makes you laugh, you never quite know where it will go next  whilst at the same time feeling in very safe hands .

Aquila is gripping from the first page, when two boys slip down a bank into a disused quarry while on a school orienteering trip. There they discover a Roman spacecraft, which they manage to get going. They learn more whilst finding out how to control the spaceship than they have ever learnt at school – including Latin! As well as wiiing the 1997 Whitbread Children’s Novel Award it was also short-listed for the Smarties Award and was made into a popular television series. You only have to visit the Aquila appreciation Society on Face Book and see the youtube video hits to appreciate how popular it was and still is.

Self help books for children?

I read ’selfhelp’ books. The ones that say ‘this worked for me, it might be useful to you.’ The ones that give examples from others lives that help explain how my own might work for the better. How often do you say  ’ If I knew then what I know now…’ and that’s why I read self help, Spirituality, and great novels. So that I don’t have to keep reinventing the wheel in my own life. Classics are have lasted the test of time because they help us look at our lives and show how we might work things out.

 And that’s also what I want in a truly great children’s book. So I say again if a children’s book can offer this – ‘The absolute bedrock thing is that you need to work out exactly what it is you want in life – something that’s a lot trickier than it seems. If you don’t know what it is, you can’t hope to get it. You must find out what you really really want.’ I want to read it however old I am! and this was said by children’s author Andrew Norriss when talking about his book Aquila. It won the Whitbread Children’s book award. You know the Aesop tale about the wren flying high on the back of an eagle?

 I love that there are encouraging and inspiring children’s books out there which are also greaf fun reads especially at this challanging time. I want books to help not weigh me down with angst and gritty urban tension. I want to know how to make life better and Norriss really does it. Great! Anyone else come across his books? I really really recommend them see Amazon.co.uk

What’s it all about?

‘The absolute bedrock thing is that you need to work out exactly what it is you want in life – something that’s a lot trickier than it seems. If you don’t know what it is, you can’t hope to get it. You must find out what you really really want.’