I don’t know how common it is to share bad reviews. I suspect not very. But I want to be fair – not everyone likes what I write. Yes, the Junior Library Guild (stellar work they do!) recommends Your Story Matters. A number of other reviewers like it too. But there are detractors out there, folks who complain about my style of presentation. One phrase that stands out is a reference to my “dorky humor.”
How to respond? I guess I’m glad they got the message. I use humor to put points across, figuring you’re more likely to remember something you’ve responded to viscerally – laughed or cried at. And I am no good at making folks cry (except the science teacher who tried a hundred ways to explain universal gravitation to me, and failed a hundred times. Sorry, Mr Boag!).
And I want to defend dorkiness. It’s an important style choice. Easy, inclusive, and not mean. You get the dorky joke even if it makes you sigh. Dad humor is dorky humor, and dads who try to make you laugh are almost always good dads. Even when the jokes are lousy.
If a reviewer finds Your Story Matters unconvincing, or can’t see my point about surprise or conflict or secondary characters, then I might feel bad. But being accused of dorky humor is like being accused of cleanliness, or taking the dog to the dog park, or wearing matching socks.
I meant to do it like that.