“Across The Ages” by Sarah A. Hoyt
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2023/05/12/across-the-ages/

“Years ago, I came across someone a little older than my kids who
refused to read Heinlein juveniles because “they’re dated.” Uh… note
this was someone in his thirties. There might be some legitimate claim
that the language, being dated, would be difficult for new readers, but
even that, surely not with a mere fifty years difference. Meanwhile my
kids grew up reading Heinlein juveniles, and Enid Blyton books most of
them taking place just before or during WWII in an England that no
longer exists, and it never occurred to them that it was wrong in some way.”

“The juveniles can now be read as alternate universe, but for kids just
getting their feet into what reality is, they can be confusing. And
yet, my kids reacted to them exactly the same way kids in the fifties
did, and got interested in science anyway. 12 year old younger son
insisted on writing lengthy explanations of how our understanding of the
solar system has changed and also verifying all the calculations, but
that’s because he’s broken in a very specific way.”

I still love the Heinlein Juveniles at age 62. Yes, they are dated but,
so what.

Lynn

On Sun, 14 May 2023 15:30:52 -0500, Lynn McGuire
<lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

>“Across The Ages” by Sarah A. Hoyt
> https://accordingtohoyt.com/2023/05/12/across-the-ages/
>
>“Years ago, I came across someone a little older than my kids who
>refused to read Heinlein juveniles because “they’re dated.” Uh… note
>this was someone in his thirties. There might be some legitimate claim
>that the language, being dated, would be difficult for new readers, but
>even that, surely not with a mere fifty years difference. Meanwhile my
>kids grew up reading Heinlein juveniles, and Enid Blyton books most of
>them taking place just before or during WWII in an England that no
>longer exists, and it never occurred to them that it was wrong in some way.”

I agree with you though don't feel my brains turned to mush since in
my childhood I read both Tom Sawyer and Huck Funn. Or for that matter
A Christmas Carol which was written in the same general era.

>“The juveniles can now be read as alternate universe, but for kids just
>getting their feet into what reality is, they can be confusing. And
>yet, my kids reacted to them exactly the same way kids in the fifties
>did, and got interested in science anyway. 12 year old younger son
>insisted on writing lengthy explanations of how our understanding of the
>solar system has changed and also verifying all the calculations, but
>that’s because he’s broken in a very specific way.”
>
>I still love the Heinlein Juveniles at age 62. Yes, they are dated but,
>so what.

125% agreement.

On Monday, May 15, 2023 at 6:32:58 AM UTC+10, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> “Across The Ages” by Sarah A. Hoyt
> https://accordingtohoyt.com/2023/05/12/across-the-ages/
>
> “Years ago, I came across someone a little older than my kids who
> refused to read Heinlein juveniles because “they’re dated..” Uh… note
> this was someone in his thirties. There might be some legitimate claim
> that the language, being dated, would be difficult for new readers, but
> even that, surely not with a mere fifty years difference. Meanwhile my
> kids grew up reading Heinlein juveniles, and Enid Blyton books most of
> them taking place just before or during WWII in an England that no
> longer exists, and it never occurred to them that it was wrong in some way.”
>
> “The juveniles can now be read as alternate universe, but for kids just
> getting their feet into what reality is, they can be confusing. And
> yet, my kids reacted to them exactly the same way kids in the fifties
> did, and got interested in science anyway. 12 year old younger son
> insisted on writing lengthy explanations of how our understanding of the
> solar system has changed and also verifying all the calculations, but
> that’s because he’s broken in a very specific way.”
>
> I still love the Heinlein Juveniles at age 62. Yes, they are dated but,
> so what.
>
So the way they're dated means some readers are fine with it and some aren't
People are entitled to like a book or not and that particular kids still enjoyed them doesn't mean that everybody still will

In article <4c472b41-8216-4143-a2f1-5443ab0fc8a5n@googlegroups.com>,
Hamish Laws <hamish.laws@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Monday, May 15, 2023 at 6:32:58 AM UTC+10, Lynn McGuire wrote:
>> “Across The Ages” by Sarah A. Hoyt
>> https://accordingtohoyt.com/2023/05/12/across-the-ages/
>>
>> “Years ago, I came across someone a little older than my kids who
>> refused to read Heinlein juveniles because “they’re dated.” Uh… note
>> this was someone in his thirties. There might be some legitimate claim
>> that the language, being dated, would be difficult for new readers, but
>> even that, surely not with a mere fifty years difference. Meanwhile my
>> kids grew up reading Heinlein juveniles, and Enid Blyton books most of
>> them taking place just before or during WWII in an England that no
>> longer exists, and it never occurred to them that it was wrong in
>some way.”
>>
>> “The juveniles can now be read as alternate universe, but for kids just
>> getting their feet into what reality is, they can be confusing. And
>> yet, my kids reacted to them exactly the same way kids in the fifties
>> did, and got interested in science anyway. 12 year old younger son
>> insisted on writing lengthy explanations of how our understanding of the
>> solar system has changed and also verifying all the calculations, but
>> that’s because he’s broken in a very specific way.”
>>
>> I still love the Heinlein Juveniles at age 62. Yes, they are dated but,
>> so what.
>>
>So the way they're dated means some readers are fine with it and some aren't
>People are entitled to like a book or not and that particular kids
>still enjoyed them doesn't mean that everybody still will
>
>

No, no. The best way to find common ground with younger people is to
forcefeed them fiction they don't care for, like cod liver oil for
the mind. They will always remember you for it.

--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

On Fri, 19 May 2023 12:02:44 -0000 (UTC), jdnicoll@panix.com (James
Nicoll) wrote:

>In article <4c472b41-8216-4143-a2f1-5443ab0fc8a5n@googlegroups.com>,
>Hamish Laws <hamish.laws@gmail.com> wrote:
>>On Monday, May 15, 2023 at 6:32:58 AM UTC+10, Lynn McGuire wrote:
>>> “Across The Agesâ€? by Sarah A. Hoyt
>>> https://accordingtohoyt.com/2023/05/12/across-the-ages/
>>>
>>> “Years ago, I came across someone a little older than my kids who
>>> refused to read Heinlein juveniles because “they’re dated.â€? Uh… note
>>> this was someone in his thirties. There might be some legitimate claim
>>> that the language, being dated, would be difficult for new readers, but
>>> even that, surely not with a mere fifty years difference. Meanwhile my
>>> kids grew up reading Heinlein juveniles, and Enid Blyton books most of
>>> them taking place just before or during WWII in an England that no
>>> longer exists, and it never occurred to them that it was wrong in
>>some way.�
>>>
>>> “The juveniles can now be read as alternate universe, but for kids just
>>> getting their feet into what reality is, they can be confusing. And
>>> yet, my kids reacted to them exactly the same way kids in the fifties
>>> did, and got interested in science anyway. 12 year old younger son
>>> insisted on writing lengthy explanations of how our understanding of the
>>> solar system has changed and also verifying all the calculations, but
>>> that’s because he’s broken in a very specific way.â€?
>>>
>>> I still love the Heinlein Juveniles at age 62. Yes, they are dated but,
>>> so what.
>>>
>>So the way they're dated means some readers are fine with it and some aren't
>>People are entitled to like a book or not and that particular kids
>>still enjoyed them doesn't mean that everybody still will
>>
>>
>
>No, no. The best way to find common ground with younger people is to
>forcefeed them fiction they don't care for, like cod liver oil for
>the mind. They will always remember you for it.

Public schools, at least, have been doing that for ... decades.

This is why a definition of "YA Fiction" I ran across (possibly here)
some time back was "books teenagers will buy even though they are not
required to for class".
--
"In this connexion, unquestionably the most significant
development was the disintegration, under Christian
influence, of classical conceptions of the family and
of family right."

On Fri, 19 May 2023 09:21:29 -0700, Paul S Person
<psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:

>Public schools, at least, have been doing that for ... decades.
>
>This is why a definition of "YA Fiction" I ran across (possibly here)
>some time back was "books teenagers will buy even though they are not
>required to for class".

Heck when I was in jr high I read my mom's old copies of Macbeth and
Hamlet (admittedly I probably wouldn't have paid for them but my
parents weren't shocked when I picked them up as compared to SOME I
picked up. I also read a series of magazine size booklets published by
the US Atomic Energy Commission (which were in the jr high library and
mostly published in the mid-60s) as I was a chemistry geek at that
time - to the extent that at age 13 I could recite the entire periodic
table with elements, atomic numbers, chemical symbols and approximate
atomic weights. Discovered at university that my manual dexterity
wasn't up to being a good chemist and my lab books all had holes from
not being sufficiently careful with sulfuric acid.

At that point I gave up combined math/chem major in favor of straight
math which came in handy in business school since socially our class
was socially divided between the engineers and social science types
(who thought they were going to make mucho dineros "on the street")
and since my math was better than the engineers, I was socially
welcome and considered an uber-geek who eventually went to a computer
company before giving it up to run the family business I retired from
last year.

On Sunday, May 14, 2023 at 3:32:58 PM UTC-5, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> “Across The Ages” by Sarah A. Hoyt
> https://accordingtohoyt.com/2023/05/12/across-the-ages/
>
> “Years ago, I came across someone a little older than my kids who
> refused to read Heinlein juveniles because “they’re dated..” Uh… note
> this was someone in his thirties. There might be some legitimate claim
> that the language, being dated, would be difficult for new readers, but
> even that, surely not with a mere fifty years difference. Meanwhile my
> kids grew up reading Heinlein juveniles, and Enid Blyton books most of
> them taking place just before or during WWII in an England that no
> longer exists, and it never occurred to them that it was wrong in some way.”
>
> “The juveniles can now be read as alternate universe, but for kids just
> getting their feet into what reality is, they can be confusing. And
> yet, my kids reacted to them exactly the same way kids in the fifties
> did, and got interested in science anyway. 12 year old younger son
> insisted on writing lengthy explanations of how our understanding of the
> solar system has changed and also verifying all the calculations, but
> that’s because he’s broken in a very specific way.”
>
> I still love the Heinlein Juveniles at age 62. Yes, they are dated but,
> so what.
>
> Lynn
I can't read the new books because they are dated. They are dated 2023
which is the worst of all. So far.

On 5/19/2023 11:52 PM, Butch Malahide wrote:
> On Sunday, May 14, 2023 at 3:32:58 PM UTC-5, Lynn McGuire wrote:
>> “Across The Ages” by Sarah A. Hoyt
>> https://accordingtohoyt.com/2023/05/12/across-the-ages/
>>
>> “Years ago, I came across someone a little older than my kids who
>> refused to read Heinlein juveniles because “they’re dated.” Uh… note
>> this was someone in his thirties. There might be some legitimate claim
>> that the language, being dated, would be difficult for new readers, but
>> even that, surely not with a mere fifty years difference. Meanwhile my
>> kids grew up reading Heinlein juveniles, and Enid Blyton books most of
>> them taking place just before or during WWII in an England that no
>> longer exists, and it never occurred to them that it was wrong in some way.”
>>
>> “The juveniles can now be read as alternate universe, but for kids just
>> getting their feet into what reality is, they can be confusing. And
>> yet, my kids reacted to them exactly the same way kids in the fifties
>> did, and got interested in science anyway. 12 year old younger son
>> insisted on writing lengthy explanations of how our understanding of the
>> solar system has changed and also verifying all the calculations, but
>> that’s because he’s broken in a very specific way.”
>>
>> I still love the Heinlein Juveniles at age 62. Yes, they are dated but,
>> so what.
>>
>> Lynn
> I can't read the new books because they are dated. They are dated 2023
> which is the worst of all. So far.

Heh.

Lynn