Comments

Daina Lucs

"...a glimpse into the daily lives of ... children." shows real progress in programming for children and youth of Latvia. I hope this trend crosses over into the production of real children's literature. If children are to be enticed to read, Latvian writers and publishers must abandon the ubiquitous fairy tale, folk tale, animal tale genre, slathered with a heavy dose of didacticism. A real glimpse into the lives, thoughts,hopes and dreams of children and youth,(not translated from another language), will inspire and fire up an enthusiastic readership. One only has to consider the "Harry Potter" phenomenon. Although it had a "fantasy" element, it did concern the daily lives of children. Droves of youngsters, and adults regained or discovered the "fun of reading". Whenever I go to a Latvian Song Festival, or anywhere where a Latvian book stand is set up, I check out the children's section. Yup, the same old stuff; with a few inovations like board books or dictionaries. Hooray! I speak as a public children's librarian with 19 years of experience with reading, reviewing and presenting children's literature. For 15, of those 19 years, I reviewed books, 6 times a year, with a Book Eval group of 20 - 30 children's librarians. The fairy/folk/animal tale genre is only a small part of the immense, yearly production of real literature for children. I probably reviewed between 500 - 600 books of all kinds, from picture books to teen novels. My question is: "When are the Latvian writers of "kid-lit" going to 'Get It'? Are they ever going to get an understanding of what is children's literature?" I see a ray of hope in "Kur pazudis Elvis?" I hope it shines out bright and clear to illuminate and enlighten Latvian authors. Thanks ever so much for your review. I hope the film does well.

05 Feb 2009 (United States)