Some said it better than me:
A lovely story it is, with all the power of nostalgia. A very superior novel in all ways. – Publisher Weekly

Exceptionally well-written…powerful and disciplined. – Horn Book

Get it. Read it. Love it….

TSP is the first John Rowe Townsend book I ever read. I’ve probably read it 2-3 times previously. Three, I think. I really love it. I’m sad to say that most of my copies of JRTs books are cheap paperbacks that I picked up while I was in England, and even though I bought them new, I have to be quite careful with them because the bindings are poor. And then, add to that, an unfortunate water bottle leakage last night, and I’ll be looking for a new copy of TSP. I’m still reading it, despite it being damp and now definitely coming apart. Luckily, it is available online at abe books.

Oh, but wait…this post is supposed to be about GOOD-NIGHT, PROF, LOVE. And boy do I have a few things to say about this book. It’s amazing. Truly amazing. There are pages and pages of straight dialogue without a single “she said” or “I said”. Seriously. And loads of innerdialogue too. And I’ll tell you what, it’s never confusing. There are hardly any transistions to speak of, either and if you, the reader, can’t keep up, well, too bad. Although, you find you can keep up! I seriously think that if you tried to write a book like this now and you did it well, an editor would call the style fresh and exciting. However, if you did it badly, an editor would say, “Are you a playwright because this reads like a play. You forgot the transitions and it’s mostly dialogue.” I’m not really sure why this works so well, but I can definitely see it NOT working in the hands of a lesser writer. I, for example, would certainly not want to try it! Maybe as a writing exercise, but not for a whole book. Anyway, since it’s a bit hard to describe, I suggest if you’re interested that you try to find a copy. Paperbacks are quite cheap on abe books, and you can’t go wrong with JRT.

There’s nowt wrong with ‘im, mind you. ‘E’s bin a good ‘usband to me an a good father to you. But what matters in ‘is life is ‘is allotment an’ pigeons an’ suppin’ pints at t’local wi’ t’lads. I’d like you to grow up to summat more interestin’ than that.

While it’s not brain surgery to figure out what the character’s saying, it is a bit of a challenge sometimes! And there are times when I’m glad I lived in the north of England or I wouldn’t have a clue what “nowt” (nothing) or “summat” (something) means.

I can see why some of JRT’s books didn’t make it to the US or if they did, they were edited for Americans. Still, it’s a good read so far. I am 64 pages into it and really can’t remember what it’s about, so it’s like reading a new book, but one you’re sure you’ll like!

When I read great stuff, I am inspired to write. When I read John Rowe Townsend, I want to close down the writing shop and just read… his writing is so seamlessly brilliant that you probably won’t even notice how good it is because you’re wrapped up in the story.

I started with GUMBLE’S YARD yesterday and as if telling a great story isn’t good enough, he bookends the story with identicle scenes and it’s just sooooo good. And today I’m reading WIDDERSHINS CRESCENT (called GOODBYE TO GUMBLES YARD in the US). I wish there were a bunch more in this series.

These are rather short and quick reads, so tomorrow I’ll be on to a more novel-length book with HELL’S EDGE. I have not read this one in more than 15 years and I’ve only read it once. I can’t remember anything about it. Yay!

Here is where I started: Today I read John Rowe Townsend’s first book GUMBLE’S YARD. I suppose I first read it about 15 years ago. It is as brilliant today as it was when it was written in 1961 or therabouts.

Do you know about JRT? What? No? Get thee to a library quick! You are missing out on one of the world’s great storytellers. When I was about 14 or so, I was at the library and I was looking for a particular book and it wasn’t there. However, JRT’s THE SUMMER PEOPLE was there and looked interesting so I checked it out. I remember handing it off to my mum because I was so impressed and while we share books now, I don’t think we did much then. Anyway, she loved it. We soon discovered more JRT books and then Mum came across WRITTEN FOR CHILDREN. Yeah…JRT is probably the world authority on books written for children. No kidding. But the story gets better!

Our library had about 5 of his books. One day, when I was living in England, I wandered upstairs in Bluebell Bookshop, a local bookstore in the north of England in Penrith, and discovered a whole ROW of books by JRT. I then scoured England collecting his books before I left. I have 19. There is at least one YA I know I don’t have and a biography he wrote on John Newberry (yeah…Newberry Award) that I don’t have either. I was able to read the YA in England when I was there though from the library.

Anyway, it gets better…better, you say? But how can that be? Well…when I got back to the US in 1992, I wrote to JRT and guess what? Yep. He wrote back! We have carried on a correspondance for 15 years. His partner is the reknowned writer Jill Paton Walsh, and while we have not corresponded, I thoughtfully send her my best wishes and JRT responds likewise by saying hello to my mother (also a fan, but much shyer than me!) every time we write.

So, what I realized the other day is that while I’m quick to say he is one of my most favorite authors in the whole wide world, I hadn’t read any of these books in many a moon. I am now treating myself to reading them start to finish in the order he wrote them (with one exception…he wrote a sequel to one book several years later and I intend to read those two together, even though he wrote others in between). So, check back to hear wonderful things about JRT and my adventure in reareading these wonderful stories (some of them I have read recently, but others I haven’t picked up since the first time I read them 15 years or more ago).

Interestingly enough, (to me anyway), the book I only read eight pages of was in third person and I thought to myself, “You know…I’m hard on third person. Maybe I should give it more pages.” but then I couldn’t. So the next book, MIDNIGHT BLUE, is great from the beginning. I bet I was fifteen or twenty pages into it before I realized it was in third person. You see? I am only hard on BAD third person. What really bugs me is I can’t put my finger on what makes it good and what makes it bad? I really want to know! Does anyone have any theories on this? Are there any books out there on this?

Okay, back to writing. I suppose when the weather cools off and the baseball season ends (my poor, poor Cubbies..this is one of the worst seasons in ages and ages…), maybe my need to read will blossom again.

The facts first:
Tourette Syndrome does not have an ’s on the end of it. That’s for any editors who might be reading this and are allowing their writers to use the term irresponsibly (I’ll get to that) in their books. You might as well have it spelled correctly.

Tourette does not necesarily include swearing. In fact, my research shows that it is a separate affliction and that while people with TS may have it, they don’t all have it, but most people who have the swearing affliction, have TS so everyone THINKS they go together. My internet is working very slowly and I can’t find the name of the actual “other thing” so just take my word for it or go online and find out. I have done the reasearch, but it’s been about 8 years.

And now for the rant:
What are you writers thinking????? Have you no compassion? I am so sick of seeing abuse of TS in novels, especially in YA.

Example: 
Character A swears a whole bunch.
Character B: “God, whatta ya have? Tourette’s? Get a grip already.

Example 2: 
He was freaking out, yelling and swearing like he had Tourette’s Syndrome or something. What a freak.

I just think that you shouldn’t throw possibly hurtful comparisons around if you don’t know anything about it. The book I WAS reading last night where the author did this was written by a guy. Hmmmm. Is he aware that most of the people who have TM are male and it’s at its worst in middle school and high school? You know? YA readers????? YA readers that LOOK for books written by guys! Grrrrr….

It’s one thing to write about a kid who HAS TS. And I’m not even asking your characters to be nice to him/her. If making fun of them is what they do, so be it (although, hopefully that will work itself out). But what gets me is the sort of offhand way writers sometimes use this. When I was a kid, calling someone a retard was really quite common, but I was of the generation where it became absolutely unacceptable. You would read it in a book though. Not so much anymore. Why is this different?

Okay…done now…bless and release and return the book to the library (I actually kept reading but the rest of it sucked too so I didn’t get to my regular 50 pages)…

I just finished reading FINDING GRACE. It is an Australian YA, reprinted by Delacorte. The author is Alyssa Brugman. At first I didn’t really like it much because I just didn’t care about the main character. She seemed selfish and even mean spirited. While you can have that in a main character so she can change, there should probably be something redeeming about her early on so you know. I guess her lack of confidence and her humor is what kept me reading…Anyway, I went on to like the book pretty well. The writing is very good and I always love reading YA from other countries. I get a fair amount of English YA, but not too much Australian. It usually throws me for a loop at first because we writers don’t tend to say what country the book’s set in, we know already, and the mix of language that could be termed British, mixed with dollars, and other American type language always throws me until the author either mentions a city or I skip to the back to read the bio (I try to wait to read the bio in case the author gives something away in it like: “This really happened to me except my best friend didn’t go deaf all the way.” Huh. Thanks for ruining the book!).

Anyway, I would recommend this book. I would also recommend MY BROTHER’S HERO by Adrian Fogelin. I like her writing, but I also like how she’s working her way through the neighborhood telling different kids’ stories. I actually have four friends who I’ve written three novels for from their different povs, but alas, they appear to be desk drawer novels! You never know.

I’m now reading RODZINA. I think I’ll end up liking it, but that’s what got me thinking about how I might be getting burnt out. I’ve been reading it for three days and have hardly made a dent in it. It is the sort of book I would normally read in one sitting, or maybe two.

What’s driving me crazy is the need to teach overpowering the need to tell the story. I’m not saying you shouldn’t broaden your reader’s horizons if it fits into the parameter of the story, but when it takes over, it’s not so much fun for the reader.

For example, when authors work in new vocab by having the main character either studying for the SATs, having a sibling study for the SATs, or just having them LOVE words, it seems forced to me. I’d much rather read a book that just uses words I don’t know, which I either get from the context or I go look up myself. Or in these books, I’ve just been reading, SCIENCE AND NATURE are everywhere! Okay…yeah…that’s cool. Except when you start creating characters that maybe aren’t so believable just so you can teach something about science, isn’t that a bit didactic?

In my manuscript True Blue Baby (the revision finally went out the other day!), there is a lot about old-time music. Since most people aren’t familiar with it, I suppose there will be some learning going on, if it’s ever published, but the music stuff is in there for the story, not to teach kids about old-time music.

Okay…I’m just ranting…sorry.