To Whom Do We Owe the Honor Mister Dahl? by Matthew MacNish

There was a tragedy in my house the other day. An absolute miscarriage of justice which left me short of breath, emotionally and legally concerned, and utterly disappointed in my progeny.

Let me back up.

Start from the beginning.

My younger daughter, who is twelve, is in her middle school production of the stage adaptation of the film adaptation of the wonderful Roald Dahl Middle Grade novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which has tragically been mis-titled Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (or sometimes just Willy Wonka) since time immemorial.

Anyway, opening night was last Friday, and I went on Saturday afternoon to see the production, and it was a lot of fun, but that's not what I'm posting about here.

What I'm posting about is an argument I got into with my child and her older sister after the final dress rehearsal on Thursday.

We were discussing the legacy of the greatness of a story like the one that takes place in the eponymous Chocolate Factory, and they tried to make this ridiculous argument that the legacy of such a thing is owed mostly to whoever adapted the novel for the silver screen, and then after that, owed secondly to whoever adapted the screenplay to a stage play.

I was obviously appalled.

I don't mean to imply that adaptations of such a wonderful and culturally important story are not important, necessary, and deserving of praise and historical import, but I was aghast at my children's insistence, especially after I tried to bring it up, that in a legacy like that of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, less appreciation is owed to the original creator, the man who dreamed the whole thing up, Roald Dahl himself, hands down the greatest children's author who ever lived, in my own humble opinion, than it is to whoever adapted it, and admittedly probably cemented it in the psyche of the American Mind.

I don't mean to discount the role those people played (FWIW, Dahl himself wrote the screenplay for the 1971 film, which was directed by Mel Stuart, and John August wrote the 2005 screenplay, while Tim Burton directed. For the stage musical, assuming we can trust Wikipedia, it seems it was written by David Greig, with music and lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman), and like I said, I have no intention of denying the contribution those people made to the legend of this book, but I must say, I was surprised, offended, and a little ticked off when my kid's tried to say that Disney, of all entities, had more to do with the popularity of the tale of the Chocolate Factory than Dahl himself.

I mean, really?

How could the story even exist if Dahl had not dreamed it up? People can adapt great works until the cows come home, but unless a genius like Dahl imagines them in the first place, no one will have anything to adapt.

What say you?

NOTE: In other news: Apparently Steven Spielberg will be directing an adaptation of Roald Dahl's The BFG for Dreamworks.

Reboots, Kids, and their Interest, by Matthew MacNish

So last weekend I took my kids to Star Trek, Into Darkness, which, in spite of some huge writerly no-nos (sorry J.J. Abrams, you're not quite Joss Whedon) was a really entertaining film. The oldest had seen the original 2009 reboot, but she wasn't nearly as excited over it (partially because she's a Cumberbatch zealot, but that's neither her nor there) as she was this one.

I'm not sure I blame her. Sure, the first reboot was better written, with better character arcs, and a more direct progression of plot and conflict, but there was something about this new one, something just a little bit beyond the edge of consciousness, that really whet the appetite.

Is it the CGI? Perhaps. The additional casting? Surely Benedict played a part. The gimmick of 3D tech? I doubt it. So when does an inferior tale present an exciting thoroughfare that brings new fans into the fold of an existing franchise?

Well, I'm not marketing guru, but I would argue that the nature of the medium of film plays a big part, especially when combined with the instant gratification high sparkle high contrast advertisement nature of modern culture, but I don't think that's enough to explain it all. I think the existing franchise of Star Trek is the biggest factor in why my kids are now so fascinated with every iteration of its canon.

Similar arguments can be made for The Lord of the Rings, and even Star Wars. Heck, even the Harry Potter movies surely brought more readers to the books. But is it only movies that do this? I'm curious.

BBC's Sherlock inspired my teenager to obtain and read the entire works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

ABC's Once Upon a Time has my younger daughter curious about reading fairy tales.

But those are both TV shows. What about books? I can't personally think of a book series that was rebooted years later, whether by the original author or not, but surely there is one out there? Readers? Can you think of any?

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And more importantly, be sure to check out yesterday's post. Here at Project Middle Grade Mayhem, we're holding an epic giveaway, choked with incredible prizes, as we try to push from 700 to 1000 followers. Please - spread the word! Tell all the readers, writers, and bloggers you know, and let them know to swing by Project Mayhem and become a follower.

Why We Do What We Do, by Matthew MacNish

We've been having some amazing, very professional looking posts going up here at Project Mayhem lately. This is my first time back after the April A to Z Challenge, and I'm a little intimidated. I would hate to tarnish the reputation of this incredible blog with the kind of drivel I tend to post.

But then I remembered that's just insecurity talking, and it would be foolish to let such a thing make decisions for me.

Writing is hard work sometimes. Especially being an aspiring novelist, who is still unpublished after years of trying (I say especially, but of course I don't actually know. All my published friends tell me it's even harder afterward). You spend the majority of your time, slaving away at what is admittedly a labor of love, but when there's so little to show for it, sometimes you have to ask: why?

So ... I took my nephew to the Triple A Gwinnett Braves on Friday night. It's like major league baseball, only cheaper. And Brian McCann was there, playing to rehab after an injury, so it was even more like major league. For those who don't know, Brian McCann is the catcher for the Atlanta Braves, and was the MVP of the all star game a couple years ago, so he's kind of a big deal.

Anyway, my nephew, who is six, and who loves baseball like he loves nothing else in this world, had the time of his life. The stadiums in minor league ball are much smaller, and give the fans a lot more freedom. We were able to wander around, and change seats whenever we wanted, and pretty much just enjoy the game as we pleased.

Near the end, when the seventh inning ended in a strike out, we went down to the edge of the field, and the little guy held his glove out, asking for a ball, and the catcher of the opposing team tossed it right into his glove on his way to the dugout. The little boy's face lit up like the sun.

I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but it was raining by then. It didn't matter one bit. That little baseball fan was so happy he couldn't sit still. He spent the rest of the game talking and talking and talking about what he was going to do with that ball.

And that got me to thinking.

Why do we do what we do?

For ball players, I'm sure the money is nice, and I'm sure the love of the game has something to do with it, but I can't help wondering: if there were no fans, especially young ones, would there still be baseball?

It's the same with writing, I need to remind myself. Sure, telling stories is sometimes something we need to do. And I suppose at first, we write for ourselves, like Toni Morrison suggested, but I think in the long run, at least for those of us who stay with it long enough for there to be a long run, the readers are all that matter.

Especially the young ones.

Books, Boys, and Gordon Korman

As I've said here before, it's not always easy to find books that interest both my boys. Now that they're getting older (Happy eleventh birthday, Noah!), they're developing their own tastes, and my recommendations don't always fly. That's why it's been so fun to discover together Gordon Korman's books.


Gordon Korman has written dozens of books over the last three decades, everything from the young adult books A SEMESTER IN THE LIFE OF A GARBAGE CAN (one of my favorite titles ever) and the more recent SCHOOLED and EVEREST to the middle-grade books THE SIXTH-GRADE NICKNAME GAME and 39 CLUES. 
   
Gordon writes in a variety of styles and with a never-ending collection of memorable characters and produces books for every kind of kid. Here are the books we've enjoyed the last few months:


SWINDLE and ZOOBREAK:
Best friends Ben and Griffin right the wrongs in their community by concocting elaborate plans involving stolen baseball cards, animal heists, and villains with perfect nicknames.



THE TOILET PAPER TIGERS and THE CHICKEN DOESN'T SKATE:
I don't have one sporty bone in my body, and yet I've still been able to enjoy these books that include a small-town underdog baseball team headed up by a brilliant-but-clueless scientist and his savvy, blackmailing New York granddaughter and a science-experiment chicken that becomes a hockey-team mascot.
 

It's great to know we have so many more Korman titles to choose from in the months and years ahead!


What contemporary titles do your boys or male students gravitate toward?

Sports, Kids, and Books

I have to apologize for these terrible photos, but I only recently upgraded to a phone with a decent camera, and I don't have the steadiest hand. Anyway, this is my daughter, Madison, and my nephew, Bryce, at their very first NFL game.

We live in Atlanta, so it's a Falcons game, but we're from Minnesota (well, sort of) so we're Vikings fans. It was a pretty good game, but that's not really my point.

The point I want to make, is that I think sports, whether professional, collegiate, intramural, or just community organized, are a great way for kids to get exposed to many important things in life. Things like teamwork, respect, sportsmanship, pushing ourselves to succeed in spite of pain and/or fatigue. There are a lot of great lessons to be had from sports.

And the great thing is that sports, especially if the kids are participating, but even if they're just watching a game, don't beat you over the head with those lessons like ... some other venues for education.

I love that sports give kids an opportunity to learn things for themselves, without someone having to tell them anything. Showing is always better, right?

So anyway, after the game, it got me to thinking: what are some great young adult and middle grade books about or with sports in them, that maybe aren't exactly sports books?

I suppose I'm not the most widely read when it comes to these kind of books, but I couldn't think of many, so I figured I'd come to you guys. I mean I really enjoyed My Dog Skip (both the book and the film) and I suppose there is some mention of sports in both, but it's not really the kind of book I'm thinking of. The film The Sandlot would be a great example, but I don't think that story is also a novel, or at least I've never read it.

I did find a decent list, which you can read: here, but I was hoping our wonderful Project Mayhem readers would be able to recommend some books they'd actually read. Do any of you have a young adult or middle grave novel you can recommend that has sports in it?

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. Here's one more photo, just for fun:

Absent Parents in Children's Literature

That's my big sister Em and I when I was ... very little. I guess my parents figured: "Baby Matthew wants an ice cream cone? Sure. Slap him in a rubber diaper and put him in the bath tub."

Then I guess they left the room.

Who knows? I don't, but I want to talk about parents (or the lack thereof) in the books we read and write. I'm sure most of you have noticed that most MG and YA literature consists of protagonists whose parents are either dead, missing, abusive, distant, incarcerated, abducted by aliens, or sometimes just plain not even mentioned.

I'm not saying it doesn't make sense. I mean these books are about young people, and young people are much more interesting if they can get into adventures. It's hard to have adventures if mom is going to start blowing up your phone when curfew rolls around. But lately I've been thinking about why this is. I mean personally, it feels natural to write about young people with parents who are out of the picture. All my writing is at least partially autobiographical, and my mom died when I was 11 years old. My dad was out of my life even a year before that, for reasons we don't need to get into. Is that really why I write stories the way I do, though?

I don't know.

I'm trying to think of a scenario in which normal, healthy, present parents could be a part of a YA or MG novel. I can't think of a single one I've read myself. I think I may have to write one.

Harry Potter has a lot of awesome adults, even an amazing godfather, but Harry's real parents are dead before the first word. Charlie was there in Twilight, and he seemed like a decent dad, but he'd been out of Bella's life for so long he didn't have much authority over her. Another Charlie, from that story about the chocolate factory, had some pretty decent (albeit extremely poor) parents, but it was his grandpa who came along to take part in the story.

What do you guys think? Have you read any children's books lately that had normal, present, healthy parents in them?

If not, do you think there is some other underlying reason behind this phenomenon? Something other, perhaps darker, than just freeing the characters up to go on adventures?