Fan is short for fanatic. Taylor Swift’s fans are very passionate. Donald Trump’s fans are very passionate also. Lebron James has been playing basketball for decades and has legions of fans. Fan is something that’s used passively and meant as more of a way to build a tribe of like-minded people. People who support certain politicians, as well as, musical artists or celebrities can be fanatical. Fanatical is the adjective form of the word and is applied in more of a negative way for those who take their support of things to illogical extremes. Lebron James In His Own Words Young Reader Edition and Taylor Swift In Her Own Words Young Reader Edition are two different books from the In Their Own Words book series aimed at young readers. Both of these books are for young fans of each personality whose traits range from fan to fanatic.
Neither of the books is a biography in the typical sense. They are organized chronologically, starting with their younger years and progressing through their early albums, days in the NBA, family, relationships, philosophical beliefs, philanthropic efforts, and their competition. Some of the blurbs are taken from interviews that either superstar has conducted through the years. There are a couple of entries taken from various social media posts, and this is where the weakness in Lebron James In His Own Words comes into play.
The entries from both superstars are quotes, with the longest ones being just short of half a page long. The quotes from Lebron James are shorter and the interviews from the individual sources are placed too close to one another. For example, his interview on More Than a Game from September 2008 has two of those quotes on the same page. Pages 38-39 has two quotes from the Road Trippin podcast from 2020 and pages 70-71 contains three Instagram posts. That last one, along with the Twitter entries are especially vapid and feels hollow when not associated with an illustration or set against the frustrations of what was happening in the world at that time. Social media does not age well.
The result of having so many entries from the same source so close together is that they all feel the same. It comes across more as whining than being the motivational message that he and the book intended.
Taylor Swift: In Her Own Words doesn’t have that same problem. Her book has entries that are from the same days in certain instances, but are from different sources. The result in that variation is that is comes across with a greater sense of intelligence and behind the scenes.
Having said that, neither book will be sought out for where it stakes its flag in the intellectual sandbox, nor is it meant to. Both of these books are for the fans. They’re for those reluctant readers who are attracted to either book simply because of the fact that Lebron James or Taylor Swift is on the cover. Those diehard fans will read it word for word, become inspired by their words and try to emulate them as much as possible. Older readers who know more about the stories, or the things unsaid in either book will take the stories with a grain of salt.
Each of these books has their place and realistically anything that makes kids want to read is not a bad thing. Both of them are compact and seem suited to book that high school ages would like. However, in reality, they’re far too simple for most high school ages and would bore the pants off of them. These books are great for elementary school ages, but the vocabulary can be a little big for them. Middle school audiences will be able to read all of the words, but might tire of the business lessons or that someone is telling them to do, or not to do something.
Are we talking about Goldilocks, the porridge and the three bears, or who these books are good for? The book is either too simple, has vocabulary that’s too big or content that won’t interest them. The fans will enjoy the books a little and the fanatics will devour every word. They’ll notice that it’s a series of books in the In Their Own Words series and go seek out others from singers or athletes that they like and read them too. And at the end of the day, anything that gets a kid to read isn’t a bad thing, per se. They do illustrate the potential vapidity of social media posts when looked at in the rearview mirror. When viewed through that lens, Lebron James’ book comes off much worse, but his fans probably won’t mind, so long as they’re vocabulary it’s a win.
Lebron James: In His Own Words and Taylor Swift: In Her Own Words are from the In Their Own Words book series and are available on Agate B2.
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