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Subject: 
Re: Brick Testament: Story of Christmas in Publishers Weekly and Money magazine
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.books
Date: 
Tue, 23 Nov 2004 22:45:52 GMT
Viewed: 
9180 times
  
In lugnet.books, Leonard Hoffman wrote:
   Odd how Money puts you in their children’s category, and Publishers Weekly specifically warns against giving this book to children.

It is a little odd, but I should point out that for Money’s article, they were just taking the recommendation of one guy who runs a independent bookstore in College Park, MD. And the Publishers Weekly review only says that *some* of the book is not “funny or suitable for small children”--which is a bit different from saying flat out “don’t buy this for kids!”

But you’re right, it’s undeniable that some people see the Brick Testament books as entirely appropriate for children, and others not so much.

   Makes me think of the odd place that AFOL’s work holds - on one side it LEGO bricks, therefore a toy, and therefore children should be primarily interested in it. On the other, it is made by adults, often for adults with adult material(1) - it is generally not made for kids and has jokes and references they won’t get. No real comment to make, just that it is odd.

There’s a similarity with AFOL works and modern comic books (ahem, graphic novels!), in that most people still think of them as being meant to entertain children, but clearly there is a much broader audience getting enjoyment from both. Just as you probably wouldn’t give Maus or Neil Gaman’s Sandman series to a young kid, there can be very laudable AFOL works that most people would deem inappropriate for kids. But there’s also a very large gray area between kids-only and adults-only, and people are going to come to different conclusions about where you draw those sorts of lines.

With the Brick Testament books, I would hope they would hold appeal to both children and adults. A good role model for the sort of appeal I’m going for would be The Muppet Movie (1979), which was obviously designed to attract children, but was also littered with jokes and references that only adults would “get” and dealt with some pretty adult themes (violence, dimemberment, romantic love, etc). As such, it became a movie liked by lots of kids, but it was probably adults who appreciated it most.

   Anyways, glad to hear that yer book is getting out there and that it is doing well! I’m gonna be grabbing a few for gifts and whatnot(2).

Thanks! Hope the recipients dig the book!

   (1)= Adult material does not necessarily mean cursing or nudity, but just things of a more mature/serious nature that kids don’t really enjoy or ‘get.’

Right.

   (2)= by “Whatnot” I mean stripping down until I’m buttass naked, getting a big jar of honey, some chickpees, turning on my DVD of “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” and reading yer book.

Right.



Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Brick Testament: Story of Christmas in Publishers Weekly and Money magazine
 
(...) Odd how Money puts you in their children's category, and Publishers Weekly specifically warns against giving this book to children. Makes me think of the odd place that AFOL's work holds - on one side it LEGO bricks, therefore a toy, and (...) (20 years ago, 23-Nov-04, to lugnet.books, FTX)

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