To say that the Baddenfield family had a checkered past is to insult innocent board games everywhere. It is also inaccurate. The lives of the Baddenfields were not checkered. If their family tree were a chessboard, the squares would all be black.
He took great pleasure in teasing her; he’d decided that Bee was no name for a person, and that it must just be the first letter of her real name. So every time he came in, he addressed her by a new and awful name that started with B.
The books we read and enjoy are presented to us in neat categories. Genres, topics, ages, places—they help us find the books we’re most likely to enjoy. The only downside to this feat of organization is the odd assumption that the stories we write need to have clear division from other categories, especially when it comes to the age of the reader.
Now, there are plenty of books that are clearly for Adults Only or designed to keep 7-year-olds giggling, but I’m of the opinion that really great writing strives to be ageless. Here are some of my thoughts on the subject.
Question of the Day: What’s your favorite word?
Ali loved words, and she especially loved that words and names, like shoes, could fit.
