Monday, November 24, 2008

Werewolves or Cannibals?

I love hanging out with middle school kids. Where else could you get involved in a discussion about whether you would rather meet werewolves or cannibals?

There I was, at Whitman Middle School, blithely going about my routine tasks for my DFW: checking books in, checking books out. You know, the sort of things that middle school librarians are expected to do. But then I started to hear raised voices, heated discussion! I walked over to find out what was going on and if intervention would be necessary. As soon as I walked over to the two students whose voices i had heard, they immediately turned on me and demanded to know if I would rather meet a werewolf or a cannibal.

I was taken aback because I had never really considered either option before, regardless of my propensity to read trashy vampire/werewolf novels. What are the pros and cons of both situations? On the one hand, a werewolf could potentially turn me into a werewolf as well. A cannibal would just eat me. I'd be dead. End of story. I'm leaning towards this option, but then it hits me: werewolves aren't real - so I should meet one of them. Good choice? You decide. However, I have to tell you that the two boys said they would want to meet both at the same time and they would just pit the two against each other and run away as quickly as possible.

Ahhh, middle school libraries. Gotta love them!

1 comment:

Zola said...

Perhaps the choice of paranormal/frightening creatures indicates a shift in genre fiction. Fewer vampires and zombies, more werewolves and cannibals.
Not to quibble, but might the cannibal find the werewolf flesh a bit gamey tasting?