Love and Death at the Mall - Hardcover

Peck, Richard

4.1

10 ratings by Goodreads

9780385311731: Love and Death at the Mall

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385311737 ISBN 13: 9780385311731

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 1994

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The award-winning writer for young adults comments on the creative process; American values in schools, malls, and elsewhere; changing lifestyles and expectations; and how it all relates to the kinds of writing to which young readers respond.

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From Booklist:

Although the subtitle puts this firmly in the category of professional reading, there is so much here to ponder and enjoy, it seems a shame to relegate the book to any sort of a literary box. And while it is true that Peck spends a good deal of time discussing what young people read and why, this is in equal measure a biography, at least a professional one, and incisive social commentary. Teen suicide, peer group pressure, and censorship are just some of the topics Peck lights on with a vision that seems particularly clearheaded in a time when fuzzy thinking abounds. For instance: "More than any previous generation, parents now have reason to fear the loss of control of their children and the loss of their children's innocence. But they didn't lose that control to books. Books aren't that powerful, and their children aren't that innocent." And as those who have read Peck's books know, he can be very, very funny. Here the wit is sly and sharp, as when Peck is commenting on the private school he taught at in the late 1960s: "Students couldn't be asked for absence excuses because they might have been attending a war protest rally somewhere. The debate team folded because there couldn't be two views on the war or anything else." If you don't have a place for this kind of book, find a place for it--even if it's in the adult department--because it's too good to be missed. An excerpt from the book will appear as a "Writers & Readers" column in Booklist's special ALA Annual Conference combined issue in June. Ilene Cooper

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