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The H-Word.

Horror fiction.

There. I said it.

There IS such a thing as horror fiction. There’s actually enough of it to constitute a genre.

That would be the HORROR GENRE. Not science fiction, not fantasy, not “thrillers”, urban fantasy, or paranormal romance. Nothing wrong with those. There are a lot of fantastic crossover titles, and there is a reason that we review them.

But, hello? The horror genre exists. It’s here. And I’m tired of not reading about it when it is completely discounted, or when books that clearly fall into the category of horror fiction are described as everything else.

Let’s see… In the past month here’s what I found (or didn’t find).

First, in the field of research on literacy, reading engagement, and advocacy…

1.) I was rereading Stephen Krashen’s The Power of Reading. I admire Krashen and his research has been and is incredibly important because it’s about engaging and creating readers, and it’s backed by data. Krashen was an early advocate of (ahem) “light reading” for kids. In the book, he mentions a study he co-authored in 2000. In this particular study (not the only study he’s done, this is just an example) Krashen found that 53% of 124 fourth grade students remembered the first book to make a major impact on them (in his words, a “home run book”). That’s about 65 kids. Of these, SIXTEEN were “scary books”. In other words, nearly a quarter of kids who remembered their “home run book” remembered a “scary book”. And that’s just one study.

Krashen discussed the value of teen romances and strongly advocated the use of comics and graphic novels to engage kids and teens in reading. But in all his discussion of “light reading” he never uses the H-word, and when he does mention scary stories, he is dismissive of the books of R.L. Stine, who was hugely popular at the time the first edition was published. That is, he dismissed the valued reading material of nearly 25% of the kids (fifteen of the sixteen books mentioned were R.L. Stine books). Since Krashen wrote this book, graphic novels have become relatively accepted as legitimate reading material, and there’s been a lot written about their value. Scary stories? Horror fiction? Not so much.

2.) Let’s fast-forward a bit to a more recent book, Readicide, by Kelly Gallagher. Gallagher addresses the problems inherent in giving kids the opportunity to get “lost in a book” when teachers and schools are overwhelmed with the pressure to succeed on standardized tests. He’s a passionate advocate and it’s an important book.

And then we get to the book list at the end. “101 Books My Reluctant Readers Love To Read”. A list of coming of age stories, sports stories, nonfiction and memoirs, poetry, mystery, and (surprise!) graphic novels. And… the extremely awkwardly named category award goes to… “Fantasy/Science Fiction/Vampire”!

Yep. Christopher Pike is on that list. He wrote Point Horror titles. Is it THAT HARD to say “horror”? Which of those categories does World War Z fall into, Kelly? I’m pretty sure most readers of zombie fiction would be surprised to find themselves described as readers of “Fantasy/Science Fiction/Vampire”. Heck, do any of your students call themselves readers of “Fantasy/Science Fiction/Vampire”?

And these are the advocates for reluctant readers and reading choice in schools, in libraries, and at home. I have tremendous respect for the work they do- it informs my whole way of looking at the world. I am so disappointed that horror fiction is so far beneath the radar that they don’t notice what is right in front of them.

But there’s more. It will have to wait though, because it’s time for dinner.

Posted on May 28, 2011 by , Reply

Moms vs. Zombies, Mother’s Day Edition: A Mom, A Plan, A Minivan

Kirsten Kowalewski has worked as a children’s librarian and school library media specialist. Currently she is a reviewer and editor for MonsterLibrarian.com. Kirsten has two children, ages 3 and 5, who you would NOT want to be boarded into a basement with during a zombie apocalypse.

Kirsten’s husband has asked her to make it very clear that this entry is a work of FICTION. Check back tomorrow (Yikes! Mother’s Day already) for our final Mother’s Day entry.

A Mom, A Plan, A Minivan

My husband is driving me crazy.

Every night he comes home from work, eats dinner, sinks into his recliner, and zones out in front of the television.  If the kids start jumping all over him, sometimes he’ll move to the couch, but even then I can’t tear him away from professional wrestling long enough to get him to talk about what’s going on.

He tells me that it’s just craziness on the Internet, that the media is just hyping things up, and that it’s no big deal, nothing to worry about.  He says not to get whipped up into hysteria by talking to my friends about what’s in the news.  Everything will be okay, he assures me.

Though even if it’s not okay, he says, even if it’s really happening, he doesn’t see why I need to get into the details. He bought a zombie survival kit off eBay, and he figures that if that doesn’t work, we’re toast, anyway.

Personally, I don’t appreciate his attitude.

I mean, I read the news. This zombie thing isn’t just showing up in wacko/conspiracy theory blogs or cheesy, obviously fake videos on YouTube. And it’s crossing political boundaries: I’ve seen stories on Fox News agreeing with articles in the New York Times.  I can’t watch the news feeds, though—the carnage is awful, and I just don’t have the stomach for that kind of thing.

Maybe if it was just me, I’d head to Costco and stock up on bottled water, canned goods, and toilet paper; I could board over the basement windows and hide out. It might even be an opportunity to spend quality time with the man I love. But…there are the kids. And there is no way in the world that we can stay cooped up in a boarded-up room, even a big one, with two kids under five with energy to burn who are capable of producing the kind of ear-splitting screams ours can, and one of whom isn’t potty trained.

Crap.

What happens if the zombies come and I run out of pull-ups? It’s too bad they have no sense of smell—otherwise I could just wave the stinky ones in front of them to drive them away.

I’ve talked with friends about loading up our minivans to form a caravan—strength in numbers—but I don’t know what we’d do when we run out of gas. Running out of gas on the highway seems like a bad idea, but if we stopped a gas station we could be walking into a trap…

Geez, maybe my husband has a point. I really sound paranoid.

But, if we were to do this, where could we go that’s far enough from the city to avoid the major zombie attack, but close enough that we won’t run out of gas?  Wherever it is, I kinda doubt we’ll find a Chick-fil-a , but hopefully we can manage a zombie-proof playground of some kind.

While we try to figure out where we’ll go, I’m making a list of stuff I think we’ll need to take. You can fit a lot of stuff in a minivan, especially if you’re good at packing. Guns make me nervous, even the toy ones, but I can pull an emergency survival kit together. Most of that stuff is in a basic first-aid kit (i.e. one with LOTS of bandages, adhesive wraps , painkillers, gauze, children’s Tylenol, a thermometer, tweezers, and a long list of other things I keep on hand for the sick and wounded), plus my son’s inhaler and my own meds. (I’m a little worried about what will happen when I run out of meds, so hopefully this will all be over before my three-month mail order supply is gone)  Soap, definitely, both solid and liquid (I see dishes and laundry probably being washed by hand); towels; underwear; toilet paper; pull-ups; a portable generator; water; extra gasoline; milk boxes and snacks for the kids; the GPS unit…there’s a lot to consider.

I really love my kids.  I don’t want to see them hurt, and I definitely don’t want them turning into zombies.  So I am taking in every single hug, every “I missed you, Mommy” to remember, just in case.

I wonder…do you think, if you were firm enough…would zombies sit quietly in timeout?

Posted on May 8, 2011 by , Reply

Moms vs. Zombies

Ah, motherhood. It’s a crazy time. Under all the chaos, and even when you’re trying desperately to escape them, there’s a part of you that loves those kids no matter what, and wants to protect your children from anything that might possibly ever harm them.

So what happens at the end of the world? What does a mom do in the event of a zombie apocalypse? Do they have plans in place, just in case? I asked a whole bunch of them.

One practical mom said her plan is to head to Sam’s Club, and pick up a survivalist friend along the way. I guess it would be awhile before they ran out of supplies!

After one smart mom suggested heading to Palm Springs, several more started to plan to caravan there. In their minivans, maybe? Apparently Palm Springs only has two exits/entrances, is easily defensible, and wind powered. Only problem is, that since almost all of us live in the Midwest, those gas guzzlers would probably run out of fuel before we got there.

A surprising number(at least, surprising to me since I don’t think I’ve seen a movie in three years) had seen Zombieland and said they’d prepare with cardio. Since it’s the Midwest, it’s probably not that much of a surprise that many of them chimed in “Double Tap”!

One realistic mom said “I just stubbed my toe getting out of the shower”. She was pretty resigned to being zombie food! Another said “I am very, very smart”- meaning she’d quickly become brain food”!

One movie-watching mom said “As slow as they are in the movies, I think we could probably outrun them”! I must say, it’s not the first time I’ve heard that one!

A couple of them tracked down the zombie vaccine. Children must be immunized, you know! And several uninitiated ones headed off to track down the Zombie Survival Guide and Zombieland. And ammo. Knowledge is power, you know, and you’ve got to protect the children!

A few of them noted that their four year olds have already educated them about zombies. Add my obsessed five year old to that group. Although he seems to be moving on to cryptids, the zombies keep shuffling in.

Are moms going to survive the zombie apocalypse with their children intact? Some will… and maybe now a few more than before. Unless, as one mom who reads a lot noted, they’re Brian Keene’s zombies. In which case, when the birds get infected, we’re all doomed.

My thanks to the moms from IMLM who contributed their musings. I probably won’t survive the zombie apocalypse, but I sure hope they do!

Posted on April 3, 2011 by , 2 comments
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