Latest from Terry Pratchett

It is tough on one's significant other to hear hysterical laughter and get no coherent explanation of its cause. Clearly there are times when one can easily read aloud a book's jokes and laugh together. This can be difficult with Terry Pratchett, who embeds his jokes so ingeniously that punch lines may hit
pages after the setup -- and are all the more hilarious for this patience and care.

Miss Shelved admits to enjoying the raucously silly DiscWorld series Pratchett writes for adults. However, there is something especially magical when Pratchett pulls onto the PG highway and writes for a younger audience. He remains at least as funny, but also becomes quite joyful, thoughtful, and astonishingly moral -- in a completely non-denominational, non-sectarian, non-political, non-judgmental sort of way. In other words, he asks great questions, and doesn't hit anyone over the head with the answers.

In his latest, Nation, Pratchett confronts the issue of why bad things happen to good people. We have a boy, Mau, who expects to paddle his canoe back to a triumphal coming-of-age celebration and instead runs straight into a tsunami which wipes out his entire island population. He meets Daphne, a European girl whose shipwreck on that island is only the latest in a string of personal disasters. Together they rail against the gods, remake the world, help the needy who continue to wash up on their shores, and try desperately to find some meaning in it all.

Bad things happen to good people, Mr. Pratchett knows. Less than a year ago he made a public announcement of his early-onset Alzheimers. He admits to his own railing against the gods, and to a certain level of desperation. So far he continues to write, continues to think outside the box and play delightful games with the English language. But clearly he, too, is trying to find the meaning of it all. In Nation, we see that Pratchett still finds considerable beauty and goodness. The sheer wonder and pleasure of thinking makes life worth living -- and makes us worthy of the gift. Terry Pratchett intends to use his gifts to the fullest, and we stand among many devoted readers who are pulling for him to continue to do so for many years to come.

MEMO Conference!

Thank you, organizers, for a lovely and highly informative conference (Oct. 3-4, 2008). The keynote speakers were two young, male, YA authors who couldn't have been more different. Jordan Sonnenblick looks like a nice Jewish boy any mother would be proud of. As for Patrick Jones, well, his School Library Journal cover portrait says it all: long hair, beard, proudly caricatured wearing trunks in a pro wrestling rink (note: we are sure his own mother loves him all the same). The straight and narrow vs. off-the-wall. Yet one suspects they would have immensely enjoyed meeting each other. Each has a nice, wry sense of humor, easily directed at himself. And each was preaching the gospel of "let the kids read what the kids want to read." One of the best take-aways from the whole weekend was the reminder that if we want students to see themselves as successful readers, we have to stop criticizing what they choose to read.

A presenter from the U of M quoted Stuart Brand on the impact of new technology: "...if you're not part of the steamroller, you're part of the road." Who of us has not felt part of the road from time to time? Well, thanks to "23Thingsonastick" we personally are feeling much more confident of a seat on the steamroller -- and said as much on the 23 Things panel on Saturday. Thank you, Patricia Post, for inviting Miss Shelved to participate. Thanks, too, to our generous and colleagial co-panelists, Zomo and Scott. One suspects the audience was at least as impressed by the fact that the three of us continued to share brand new ideas amongst ourselves as they were with the "things" we had planned to present to begin with. Ah, love of learning is so infectious.

Kindly friends, when apprised of the fact that Miss Shelved was attending a librarians convention, tended to respond with a sardonic "wheeee!" They don't know the half of it.