Opinions Wanted

[MsJudy]

Here's a question for you: I'm toying with the idea of an action/adventure book/series for young readers. 2nd-3rd grade reading level, comparable to Junie B. Jones in terms of length and difficulty but appealing to the kids who are used to lots of excitement from cartoons.

I have a character, a young boy, and I need a little backstory for him. If he's having adventures, he obviously can't have overprotective parents waiting for him at home. But I think not having parents at all might be too scary for this age group. I haven't quite settled on a setting yet, but definitely not contemporary. An age before truant officers....

I was thinking maybe a sickly mother who can't leave the house to work, so he's on the streets a lot....but that doesn't have that Ah-ha! feeling you get when you've found the right answer.

Parents who are mysteriously missing? Parents who need to be rescued? Or is that still too disturbing for 8-year-olds?

So, it's a free-for-all. Any ideas?

[DeleyanLee]

Why not do what Peanuts did (which I think has always been the best answer)--they're there, they have a presence, but it's wah-wah-wah-wah. Intereactions are kept to a minimum (namely when timely advice is needed).

[ergraham]

You could have the socialite mother--always out doing things, leaves the kid with a nanny (or a series of nannies--this could be a comedy angle for you) and the kid "escapes." There's lots to do there--have the tyrant nanny he has to sneak away from, the lazy nanny he just walks away from, etc.

To mysteriously have missing parents, they could travel. This depends a lot on the economic class of the kid, but assuming he's in upper class, the kid's parents could have gone on "extended vacation" and left him with servants, a careless aunt/uncle, etc. Later on in the series, you could even have the parent's extended vacation have turned into something different--even darker--i.e. they were kidnapped while traveling, or they had some secret mission in their travels.

[MsJudy]

I like the secret mission aspect, or the kidnapped or some such. I think nannies have been a bit overdone..... Besides, he's definitely not upper class. At least, he's a sort of a pickpocket. He sneaks up, steals people's wallets, waits a minute, catches up with them, putting on an innocent face, and claims they dropped it. Most people give him a reward, so he makes money off it without actually being a thief.... So he could be very poor, or not so poor but doing it as a lark.... But I think doing it because he's poor make it a little less ethically questionable. Anyway, one day he picks the wrong person's pocket....

[TurkeyLurkey]

You also don't have to have parents with this age group. (although all of the above ideas are really good) Books that don't include parents.... Max and Ruby, Charlie and Lola, etc.. have older siblings that act as a parent figure and these are picture books for the younger set.

I am currently reading The Tale of Despereaux which is about a mouse, but from the day he was born, his parents were quick to dislike him, and even allowed the other mice to ban him to a dungeon to be eaten by rats. (harsh!) This book won the Newberry Medal and IMO it is geared toward the younger MG readers. (second grade students could very likely read this book.) I also had second grade students reading the HP books in one of my classrooms. So I think you are pretty free to use any scenario you feel works best with your story. (Within reason of course! But I am sure you know the basic parameters.)

Have fun with your story!
-TL

[Hillary]

I feel like I should have some magical advice about this. I know this "woman" who was writing a series (for slightly younger kids, granted) about a boy who has adventures. It worked in a Calvin and Hobbes kind of way. They simply didn't catch on to what was going on. Everything seemed normal to them. Great reviews, hilarious books.

Then her illustrator died and she moved on from Scholastic to Hyperion with her next series, which has a little girl with a perfectly functioning family - something she values in children's books. Works in a Ramona way. Also did much better than the first series. NYT best selling, etc.

Now she's begun working on seven books contracted for another series (she is continuing it because the original author died in 2004-ish) that is about a boy who has adventures. Works in a Flat Stanley way. Kind of has to - it is the Flat Stanley series.

In essence, there are a million ways. Oblivious parents, absent parents, dead parents, siblings as parents, kid escapes an orphanage and has no parents, etc.

[jennifer75]

I have a character, a young boy, and I need a little backstory for him. If he's having adventures, he obviously can't have overprotective parents waiting for him at home. But I think not having parents at all might be too scary for this age group. I haven't quite settled on a setting yet, but definitely not contemporary. An age before truant officers....





You could go back to the "I used to walk a mile to and from school in the snow" days and have his adventures take place on the walks to and from. Thay way, no explaining why no parents are around, no T.O's either. With or without the snow of course.

[MsJudy]

Thanks everyone for all the input! Always interesting to see how other people approach it. I'm leaning towards an orphan who has a sort of foster family looking out for him. That way I can have the mystery of who his parents were and what happened to them, but there's still an emotional anchor of people who do care about him so he's not totally lonely and adrift.

But I never know what will happen as I start writing, so feel free to throw out more ideas. Like noodles on the kitchen wall....

[brittanimae]

This is a great thread, and I think many of us encounter the issue. I was just thinking last night how much I enjoyed "A Little Princess" when I was growing up, and how it would be fun to write something with similar themes. But parents just don't die and leave their daughters at boarding school anymore, ya know. I like the foster child idea. Keep the thread alive!

[brittanimae]

You know what else, I'm starting a new thread on this, so it's easier to find--I really think it's a good thing to be talking about.

[WendyNYC]

Here's a question for you: I'm toying with the idea of an action/adventure book/series for young readers. 2nd-3rd grade reading level, comparable to Junie B. Jones in terms of length and difficulty but appealing to the kids who are used to lots of excitement from cartoons.

I have a character, a young boy, and I need a little backstory for him. If he's having adventures, he obviously can't have overprotective parents waiting for him at home. But I think not having parents at all might be too scary for this age group. I haven't quite settled on a setting yet, but definitely not contemporary. An age before truant officers....

I was thinking maybe a sickly mother who can't leave the house to work, so he's on the streets a lot....but that doesn't have that Ah-ha! feeling you get when you've found the right answer.

Parents who are mysteriously missing? Parents who need to be rescued? Or is that still too disturbing for 8-year-olds?

So, it's a free-for-all. Any ideas?

If you are targeting 2nd and 3rd graders, I don't think having no parents is too scary for that age group. They know the difference between fiction and reality. My 2nd grade daughter loves The Series of Unfortunate Events (dead parents), Harriet the Spy (disturbingly absent parents, IMO), Harry Potter (dead parents) James and the Giant Peach (dead parents) and The Prince and the Pauper (abusive parents).

[WendyNYC]

Oh, and The Boxcar Children.

[JoNightshade]

My favorite books as a kid were by John Bellairs. He has a couple of repeating characters. Johnny Dixon is a high school student whose mother died of cancer and whose father is overseas in the military. He lives with his grandparents, who are old and kind of let him look after himself. Even when they think something is going on with him, they are almost afraid to ask because they don't want to upset him.

Lewis Barnavelt (sp?)... I am not sure what happened to his parents, but he lives with a kindly uncle. Actually in this series the uncle is usually a part of the story, because he is a wizard.

[MsJudy]

Very interesting....keep it coming!

I guess one of the keys is balancing the freedom to go on adventures (a necessary plot device) with the dread of completely abandoning a child....

Harry has the Weasleys. There must be SOMEONE who cares what happens to this child, even if most of the time they're not available.