The Scorpio Races

[Claire]

Jul 23, 2012 21:29:30 GMT 1 sarah said:

Although there was lots of blood and gore in the book it didn’t bother me that much as I didn’t think it was too vividly described and also there was not an emotional element to it.

I agree I have been much more upset by far lesser scenes of violence/gore in other books but that were more emotionally charged.

What did you think of the race itself sarah?

PS Maggie Steifvater wins the award for 'not using a cat as a plot device which involves killing the poor bugger off' - when the water horse goes after the moggie I thought not again, another cat bites the dust, (sometimes I think they are only put in books so something can kill them) and then lo and behold the cat survives (albeit sans tail) after all! Good on you Maggie!

[sarah]

I thought the race was a bit boring, with very little description and not really a lot of tension in it.
Will have another reread tomorrow to check that I am not being unfair.

[Claire]

I dunno - I thought the race was a bit of an anti-climax too, glad someone agrees with me. But the build up was very good.

[kunuma]

That's the crux of it really I think, Sarah says there is no emotion in it, not even in the violence, and there isn't - there is so much potential for emotion - between the girl and the boy, between the boy and his water horse - yet there is none.
I too would have liked, no girl, no ordinary pony, and much more about the relationship between the boy and his water horse, especially as said, more about the charms etc he was using! It's no good, I still need a half smiley, half frowney face for it!

[susanb]

I was just thinking that the Carnegie shortlist should be coming soon, so I checked and the long list came out in November, the shortlist is due in late March....the long list is long, but Scorpio Races is on it...we'll see if it makes the cut month!

www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/pressdesk/press.php?release=pres_2013_longlist.html

[Claire]

Thanks for the info susan. It would be nice if a horse story was shortlisted, but for me it doesn't have the qualities I'd like to see in a Carnegie winner - I think the strange lack of emotion which a few people picked up on in the book would be a big no-no for me.

[kunuma]

;D That fits, I only like things that no one else likes, and vice versa!

[susanb]

Not true, kunuma, I really liked it too! (As did at least one other, there are three "excellent" votes).

It was a Printz* honor book in the US, so it's got some critical acclaim. We'll see....often the award winners are love it/hate it books....the ones that inspire strong emotion, one way or the other, but that always make you think!


The Carnegie criteria states that any book for "children or young people" is eligible, but the US more-or-less equivalent, the Newbery, is awarded to books for children up to the age of 14. The Printz award (also an American Library Association award) is for books for young adults between the ages of 12 to 18. While technically there is a two year overlap, since the Prinz awards inception (it's relatively new) the Newbery awards have skewed toward a younger reader, the Printz more to the teen age range.

[Claire]

I was in the sort of like it camp

How long has the Printz award been going Susan. I can't say Ive heard of it before. Was it brought in specifically so there were 2 age ranges of awards?

[susanb]

the Printz has been awarded since 2000, so there are a dozen winners (and a number of Honor books...what you'd call shortlisted) out there.

Re age range...yes....so that great books for all ages could gain recognition and not be competing against each other. There is a picture book award, too, that goes to the illustrator (Caldecott = Greenaway) and an early reader award (the Geisel, named after Dr. Seuss).

There are also a range of non-age-specific awards, like the Batchelder, which honors books originally published in a language other than English; the Belpre, that honors books that depict Latino culture; the Coretta Scott King, for books that depict African American Culture; the Sibert, which is for "informational books", i.e. non-fiction; the Stonewall, that honors depictions of Gay, Lesbian, Bi and Transgender life, and the Wilder that is for lifetime contribution to children's literature.

Whew...that's a lot of awards, isn't it? One last is the May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture Award, which goes to "an author, critic, librarian, historian, or teacher of children's literature, of any country, who shall prepare a paper considered to be a significant contribution to the field of children's literature". This years recipient is Michael Morpurgo! Here's the link to that award:

www.ala.org/alsc/2013-arbuthnot-honor-lecture

and to the page that shows all the ALA awards:


www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia

[Claire]

Thanks for the wealth of information susan!

[darenc1]

I've just got my copy today, so I will post my thoughts on it when I'm finished!

[Claire]

Yes, let us know what you think Daren. As you can see from the poll it had quite a wide range of response, though generally mainly positive.

[darenc1]

Finished reading it last night.

On the whole, I rather liked it. It was an easy read, and I fair blasted through it in just a week or so.

The race, I felt, could have been a bit more exciting and emotionally charged, rather than being descriptive about the violence and horror of the race itself. It would, for instance, have been good to see a bit more of the races prior to the main event, which would have served to heighten Puck's dread of the final race, and shown how cool a character Sean could be.

The setting I had a few troubles with, as at first I thought it would have to be a modern setting, but as the book goes on it was a bit clearer that it was very much a period piece - say the 1920s or so due to the lack of modern trappings mentioned (the fact there were so few cars on the island, for instance). The island itself could only be off the coast of the UK, but there was no effort made to define where (maybe the author had trouble with writing convincing dialogue?).

Overall, though, I really enjoyed it. I've bought two more copies to give to friends to see how they find it. Interested to see how the proposed film version will pan out!

[Claire]

Yes, a few of us agreed that the race itself was a bit of a let down after all the build up.

Trying to dredge up my memories of the book, I got the impression it was set in the present day but it was one of these remote islands which have escaped a lot of modernisation.

I agree it will be interesting to see what the film version is like. I'm looking forward to seeing what the horses look like!

[darenc1]

There was mention of the suffragette movement, as well, so that kind of nailed it firmly in the early parts of the last century.

As for what the capall uisce look like, I had this in mind...

[Claire]

I can't recall the suffragette bit but you could be right my memory is shocking!

Like the drawing, could that be a Kelpie/Clydie cross

They could go either way with the horses, make them beautiful and amazing or really scary and evil looking, like say the White Walkers horses from Game of Thrones.

[darenc1]

If they're going to make the film's horses true to the book (up to a point!) then they NEED to use a big horse, surely?!

The bit with the black capall coming into the lean-to was genuinely quite chilling. I loved the fact that it retained some of its equine features, but not all of them.

Have you ever seen Alien?? There's a couple of shots in the film where you see close-ups the creature's teeth, and in my mind's eye that's exactly what the capall's "smile" was like.

I'm glad Puffin didn't buy the farm, though!

[Claire]

Sept 10, 2013 22:00:54 GMT 1 darenc1 said:

I'm glad Puffin didn't buy the farm, though!

Was that the cat? I'm glad the cat didnt snuff it either I'm sick of films or books where they shove in a cat only to kill it off later. Its a lazy and cliched (not to mention unpleasant if you're a cat lover) plot device.

Yes seen Alien very scary bit with the teeth! The trouble I had with the horses in the book is that I don't see horses as scary evil creatures at all so I never quite got into them. I feel the less like real horses they are in the film the more effective they will be.

Have you seen the film Rise of the Guardians Daren? I really liked the 'nightmares' in that. But that was a cartoon of course. I assume the film of Scorpio will have CGI horses.

[darenc1]

Yeah, Puffin was the cat. If she had bought it, I wouldn't have read much of the book after that!

I think one reason why I could envisage them as "monsters" (in the literal sense, not the Clydesdale sense! ) was that I had read quite a bit about kelpies and Celtic "water horses", so the fact that they attacked and ate people/other horses wasn't a problem. The kelpie itself isn't meant to be a horse in the true sense, only taking on the form of a horse when they want to.