I just got the first review of my fall middle-grade novel, One Square Inch. It's from Kirkus, and it's what my editor called "mixed, but mostly good."
I think it's mixed, but mostly bad.
On the good side, they said it's a "poignant tale," and that certain elements of the book "are affecting and emotionally true." They also said that the book is engaging. On the bad side, they said that the story is too depressing to attract a large audience - pretty damning, that! And that the first-person voice of the book is too sophisticated for a sixth-grade boy.
The thing that hurts is that I think both of those criticisms are true. The book IS depressing. The voice IS too sophisticated.
Of course, part of me also wants to say: but look at all those other horrendously depressing books that win major awards! Look at all those books that are not poignant, but downright grim, hideously bleak and hopeless. And they command a huge audience. And aren't most first-person narratives a tad too sophisticated for us to believe that they could be utterances from the mouth of an actual kid? Huh? Huh?
But I'm still sad.
Another part of me wants to say: but this is really not the FIRST review of the book, but the SECOND review. The FIRST review was its being chosen a month or two ago as a Junior Library Guild selection, which is a very nice honor that it has already received, despite its alleged depressingness and overly sophisticated voice.
But I'm still sad.
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I say JLG trumps Kirkus. So there!
ReplyDeleteLemony Snicket would recommend that your reviewer should read Pony Party or The Littlest Elf. Perhaps you should preface your books with a warning like his so that those who are not ready for depressing subjects or sophisticated narrator will not be traumatized.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Brenda and Scott. Both of your comments will help as I lick my wounded ego.
ReplyDeleteThis early reviewer loved the book. Some of the most meaningful books from my childhood were books that made me cry.
ReplyDeleteIn a review of one of my books, Kirkus once repeated some misinformation that had accidentally made it into a publisher's description of the book--something big that wasn't even in my book. Had the reviewer read my book? I have some doubts. So I've taken their reviews--good and bad--with a grain of salt since then.
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