I'm not ashamed

When the title is immediately defensive, I would hope intrigue is piqued. The reason I attest to my "not shamed" status is because the book I just finished is not what a lot of adults would consider proper reading material for a twenty-five-year-old.

But fitting into molds has never been a top priority for me.

(Fitting into pants, on the other hand, is a goal that is usually one step ahead of me).

To preface my reading choice, let it be known that I recently built some shelves (in theory, this could be true), and unearthed boxes of paperbacks that had been seemingly lost. Said books put onto said shelves, a number of long-forgotten favorites emerged. Now, as I mentioned, I'm not exactly "old," per se, and therefore, a lot of my favorites aren't always of the adult-variety (and no, not that "adult" variety).

So the book I read was Sixth Grade Secrets, by Louis Sachar.

First, you may recognize the author. You should recognize him, because he's one of the more famous children's and Young Adult writers in America. Among other things, he's known for the Wayside School series and Holes (which they made a movie out of). I highly recommend these books as well, for people of all ages (especially Holes, which, as YA literature, falls in that wonderful in-between category that I mentioned in my post about Ender's Game http://arch-reader.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_archive.html (yes, I'm sure it's incredibly tacky to cite my own blog four-posts in)), and the movie for Holes is surprisingly good, too.

What makes Sachar so great is his style. He's got a quirky sense of humor that completely ignores the idea of condescending to kids, but rather tends to say: "Hey, this is funny and clever, and if you get it, great, and if not, oh well." I don't think he wants readers to not get his humor, but he doesn't pause to help you understand that humor, either. He also doesn't bother to build up to it -- you are in the thick of it from the moment you start reading.

A lot of it is in the details: for instance, when describing one of the main characters, it's important for him to note that she wears clean underwear everyday. Clearly this gives us a good insight into the fastidious nature of the person, but it does so in a way that seems unnecessary.

All the better for us.

Sixth Grade Secrets is about a girl who doesn't lie, a boy with a crush, and the wackiness that ensues. In between, secret clubs (which are forbidden in the school they go to) are formed, rivalries are sparked, and a teacher with a penchant for making kids copy dictionary pages is kept constantly on his toes (if you read a lot of Sachar, you'll notice that his adult figures in the books also tend to be a lot cooler than most adults - witty word-play, talk to kids like equals, etc.). I'd like to say there's more to it than that (and, obviously there is), but it's a short book, and I'd hate to give away all the little twists and turns that make the story complete.

And it is a complete story. That's the amazing thing about this book (and most "children's novels."): they are whole stories, with developed characters, and full Greek plots. You may feel silly reading such a book, but you won't be reading something silly. I think you have to respect that.

On a sadder note, it appears that I not only plagiarized once, but twice -- let me explain.

When I was in high school, I had a Spanish teacher (not that she was Spanish, she taught Spanish) who had never taught before. She had the unfortunate luck to have an Honors class full of Juniors and Seniors for the last period of every day. As such, discipline quickly became an issue. To keep the story short, she would often tell someone that they had detention for talking. Said person would immediately protest, and blame someone else for the talking. Now, that person had detention. After a while, my friends and I caught on, and we would rat out each other with false accusations, just so they'd get detention. Kind of like a witch hunt.

One of my friends suggested I write a story based on this experience, and so I kind of did. Here's where it gets a little "plagiarizy" and whatnot. I kind of took that idea, and mixed it with the rising action of the movie School Ties, and made a sort of dark "power of the mob" story set in school. Now, to be clear, I didn't actually plagiarize - the story was uniquely my own. But on the flip-side, not only is that story loosely suggested by School Ties, but apparently also by a certain scene in Sixth Grade Secrets. I don't think I actually remembered this book when I wrote the story, but nevertheless, I'd like to be honest about it.

In summation:

Read Sixth Grade Secrets, Holes (and watch the movie), and the Wayside Series.

Watch School Ties (pretty good movie with Brendan Frasier and Matt Damon).

Don't plagiarize.