Recently Valorie reviewed the movie, ‘Bridge to Terabithia.’ I haven’t seen the movie but it is a great book. It is one my son and I read and discussed along with several other Katherine Paterson novels, as he was growing up.
One of the books I own is ‘The Invisible Child’ by Katherine Paterson. This is a collection of her essays and speeches delivered between 1975 and 2000. For a writer, it’s always interesting to read about other writers and their path to publication. Katherine Paterson mentions she had seven years of rejection slip before her novel, ‘The Sign of the Chrysanthemum’ was published.
She mentioned the support shown her by her husband. I can relate to that. I know how my husband supports me in my writing, like doing household jobs so I could keep writing when I was on a roll yesterday.
Even though she’s won the Newberry medal twice for ‘Jacob Have I Loved’ and ‘Bridge to Terabithia,’ her writing life has not been without controversy. Some book reviewers and children’s experts were ‘deeply troubled by both these books, declaring in essence, that the books were depressing and offered no hope.’
In Minnesota a group of parents ‘asked their district board of education to ban ‘The Great Gilly Hopkins’ on the basis of’ what they claimed was its anti-Christian bias, its profanity and its pervasive vulgarity.’ I was astounded when I read this. I admit, it’s years since I read that book but all I remember is a great, readable book – one my son and I enjoyed. As one who’s been involved with children ‘in care’ I found the character of Gilly true to life.
Then there is the quote from a young boy in his book report on ‘The Great Gilly Hopkins.’ He closed his report by saying, ‘This book is a miracle. Mrs. Paterson knows exactly how children feel.’ What better praise can any writer get than that?
Katherine Paterson’s Christianity informs what she writes. She writes books that show the characters as they are, flaws and all, which really is the only way to write characters which are true to life. After all, isn’t that what we have in the Bible? Warts and all pictures – the good and the bad or not so good of men and women, like Abraham, Jacob, David, Rahab, Naomi, Peter, Martha, Paul, etc.
Except for Jesus, people are not either all good or all bad but complex human beings with various character traits. For those of us who write fiction, our characters should reflect that too. It’s something we need to remember about ourselves and others in everyday life as well.
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