Just finished Witch & Wizard by James Patterson. The bad news: it was not exactly what I was expecting. The good news: it made me feel more confident about the writing abilities of my 10th graders this past year. I'll explain what I mean by that later on.
First of all, my expectations. I had seen this book around and--this is pretty superficial, but don't judge--the cover looked cool and the title was catchy. I was intrigued. After reading the back cover, which introduces Whit and Wisty Allgood, the teenage protagonists, I was even more interested, A) because it was Young Adult fantasy literature, which I enjoy, and B) (again, perhaps superficial) because their names were cool. I guessed quickly that Wisty was short for Wisteria, and I thought Whit was short for Whitman. I thought, that would be a neat baby name for an English major (I would probably not name my own kid that, not being a huge Whitman fan, but it's interesting nonetheless). Whit is a cute nickname. I expected literary allusions galore. There were a few. Whit actually stands for Whitford.
I think the problem was that I was expecting a Young Adult novel geared towards adults, or that would interest adults. For example, I think the Harry Potter series is a Young Adult series that could be appreciated by adults. Also, books by Tamora Pierce. I should maybe have taken the hint that the readership age was intended to be a bit younger when one of my 8th graders was reading it, but some of them read a variety of books which are intended for slightly older readers.
While the idea behind the novel was interesting (the New Order bans books, music, and art of the previous era, and most importantly, anyone associated with magic), the set up of the book left something to be desired. I expected more detail and background about the New Order and about the main characters, but the reader is thrown right into the action. Sometimes that is an interesting choice for a novel, but in this case everything just went very fast, the villains were kind of flat, and the chapters were very short and sort of episodic. It was very plot based. Whit and Wisty narrate the story to the reader, which is ok, but their voices are a bit too ... stereotypical "teenager," is the best way I can describe it. Like, a little contrived, maybe?
I did not hate it, but I was expecting a little more grown up fantasy, I guess, especially from James Patterson, who regularly writes books for adults. I'll admit, I've only read one, and it was a long time ago, so I don't know his writing style well, but I know he writes a lot of detective stories. Not to say there is anything wrong with him writing this, but I see that it is not what I was looking for when I picked it up off the shelf.
Regarding how it made me feel about my 10th graders: I will say that reading this book made me feel better about the novel my 10th graders wrote for National Novel Writing Month and that I am working on final-editing so we can self publish it. Their main characters were all teens, too. The characters' way of speaking could have been more realistic in some cases (I thought, how many of you speak like this? Why are you making your characters speak like this?). Their novel was very plot-centric, with not a lot of character development, but there was some sporadic background information and some attempts at making the characters change or grow. The chapters were a bit longer than Patterson's, his being around 2-3 pages each, very choppy. My students' chapters were very episodic, too, but that's because I gave each person a different chapter and we tried to plan out the chapters by events that would happen in them so that it was easier for them to outline and write them in one month. The story itself was a little inconsistent in some places--I tried to amend some of that here and there without changing too much of what they wrote--but for forty 16-year-olds who are not all keen on writing, I was pretty proud of them. Patterson's novel was fast-paced, like theirs, with one thing popping up after another. I feel not so critical of them after reading his novel.
I am afraid that sounds cruel to Patterson, but really I think it's just that I expected something meant for older teens and adults. Geared toward younger teens, I'd say the story would definitely keep them reading. Perhaps the same can be said of my 10th graders' novel--geared toward their age group, it's definitely an action-packed story that, although it may not be the peak of literature, is enjoyable nonetheless.
P.S. Just after posting this, I found what looks like a graphic novel version of the book - I think that might work well. The artwork would be a fun addition and maybe the style of the story would work better in graphic novel form.
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