Children’s Reading

[ardcarp]

Dovers, I wonder if you've ever read A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes? It's meant as a book for adults about a set of children, though like this excellent reviewer....

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/mar/19/featuresreviews.guardianreview30

...I first read it whilst quite young, and realised more about it when re-reading it as an adult. It really is a great book. I've never seen the film, but I can't imagine it could possibly do justice to the book.

I gather the author, knowing nothing about children, used to 'borrow' some from friends to find out how they 'ticked' and how to write about them.

Other books which are frequently read by kids, but are meant to be about kids for adults to read are Lord of the Flies, Empire of the Sun, and (less dark) Cider with Rosie* and My Family and Other Animals*. I suppose To Kill a Mocking Bird isn't really about kids, but features them quite largely.

I think all the above can be read at different levels by precocious child readers and by adults. Incidentally the two asterisked were made into films by the BBC twice, and IMVHO both the originals far outshone the later remakes.

[Richard Tarleton]

Dovers, I wonder if you've ever read A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes? It's meant as a book for adults about a set of children, though like this excellent reviewer....

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/mar/19/featuresreviews.guardianreview30

...I first read it whilst quite young, and realised more about it when re-reading it as an adult. It really is a great book. I've never seen the film, but I can't imagine it could possibly do justice to the book.

It's the book Florence recommends to young Christine in the film (and presumably the book) The Bookshop, which was recently discussed over on the Film thread......and which (Spoiler alert ) Christine saves at the end.

Pub quiz question: which famous novelist appeared as a child actor in the film of AHWIJ?

[doversoul1]

Dovers, I wonder if you've ever read A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes? It's meant as a book for adults about a set of children, though like this excellent reviewer....

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/mar/19/featuresreviews.guardianreview30

...I first read it whilst quite young, and realised more about it when re-reading it as an adult. It really is a great book. I've never seen the film, but I can't imagine it could possibly do justice to the book.

I gather the author, knowing nothing about children, used to 'borrow' some from friends to find out how they 'ticked' and how to write about them.

Other books which are frequently read by kids, but are meant to be about kids for adults to read are Lord of the Flies, Empire of the Sun, and (less dark) Cider with Rosie* and My Family and Other Animals*. I suppose To Kill a Mocking Bird isn't really about kids, but features them quite largely.

I think all the above can be read at different levels by precocious child readers and by adults. Incidentally the two asterisked were made into films by the BBC twice, and IMVHO both the originals far outshone the later remakes.

A lot of books, classic or otherwise have always appealed to children and young people despite the fact that they are not written for them. The Catcher in the Rye is another and I dare name The Lord of the Rings too.

The books published as Young Adult Novels in the last couple of decades, on the other hand, are written and published with this particular group of readers in mind. There used to be a gap between children’s books (literature it you like) and literature for general readers. Not all teenagers could make the leap from Puffin Books to Penguin Books as you and many other on this forum could. There were, especially in the US, teen romance for girls and horror stories for boys to fill the gap but there were very few books written for teenagers that you’d feel worth recommending. It was a niche market which now has grown huge (in publishing scale, that is). There are some excellent books but a lot of them are, including often the books reviewed alongside general literature are, to me, a hybrid entertainment. Again, there is nothing wrong with entertainment if that is what you are after.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Pub quiz question: which famous novelist appeared as a child actor in the film of AHWIJ?

I remember reading Martin Amis' autobiography, in which he says that he's appeared in a film as a kid - is it him? (I'd "remembered" it as Lord of the Flies - there's a photo from the film included in the book.)

[Richard Tarleton]

Yes!

[Lat-Literal]

A lot of books, classic or otherwise have always appealed to children and young people despite the fact that they are not written for them. The Catcher in the Rye is another and I dare name The Lord of the Rings too.

The books published as Young Adult Novels in the last couple of decades, on the other hand, are written and published with this particular group of readers in mind. There used to be a gap between children’s books (literature it you like) and literature for general readers. Not all teenagers could make the leap from Puffin Books to Penguin Books as you and many other on this forum could. There were, especially in the US, teen romance for girls and horror stories for boys to fill the gap but there were very few books written for teenagers that you’d feel worth recommending. It was a niche market which now has grown huge (in publishing scale, that is). There are some excellent books but a lot of them are, including often the books reviewed alongside general literature are, to me, a hybrid entertainment. Again, there is nothing wrong with entertainment if that is what you are after.

Salinger was one of the great writers of our time. His appeal to mature early adolescents in "The Catcher in the Rye" (and I have also read the others) was to provide an ability to address the childishness in adults which to such individuals is a gut-wrenching let-down. HC gives the benefit of the doubt to children, rightly in moral terms but wrongly in others, of being saveable from a so-called progression into an age where authority is no less childlike but has added power, including parental. It cannot be equated with "Lord of the Rings".

(In a sense, the rather good "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night" - now a theatre production - treads similar ground and yet it wouldn't have been possible without Salinger.)

[Richard Barrett]

I think it's generally true that an enthusiasm for reading on the part of parents will transfer itself to children, and part of that enthusiasm is communicated through reading aloud. I read to my daughter every night when I was at home, until she was about 11. Highlights were the entire Narnia series (which, as mentioned, I already knew well) and the entire His Dark Materials (which I hadn't read before). Mention of Catcher in the Rye reminds me that she read it before I did, I don't know how I managed to miss out on that when I was "the right age". At 16 now she still asks me for reading recommendations, alongside the various YA-type things she also likes. I remember my own parents reading a lot, although they had fairly conventional rather than intellectual tastes. I have the impression that reading regularly is more important than reading particular things.

[Dave2002]

While I believe that reading literary works of fiction is to be encouraged, I believe that relatively few people also read books on science and similar subjects - I’d even include economics here. Philosophy is slightly different, but still not fiction. I may be wrong - and I’d be glad to be told that. Apart from the usefulness of people reading and learning about things which may be of practical use, I feel that although some literary fiction does address issues - for example poverty and social justice (Dickens and others) sometimes coming to these deliberations more directly, without trying to see them through the eyes of an author, may be more desirable.

So should children be encouraged to read books on science and engineering - even art and music? If so, how?

[doversoul1]

Richard
You should congratulate yourself for reading to you daughter until she was 11. Not many people manage that far. When your daughter has her own children and she finds you a completely useless grandparent (as my daughter does me), she will still love you and respect you for the very special gift she had from you. More importantly, she will strive for achieving the same with her own children. The last book I read to my daughter when she was 11 was Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones.

While I believe that reading literary works of fiction is to be encouraged, I believe that relatively few people also read books on science and similar subjects - I’d even include economics here. Philosophy is slightly different, but still not fiction. I may be wrong - and I’d be glad to be told that. Apart from the usefulness of people reading and learning about things which may be of practical use, I feel that although some literary fiction does address issues - for example poverty and social justice (Dickens and others) sometimes coming to these deliberations more directly, without trying to se them through the eyes of an author, may be more desirable.

So should children be encouraged to read books on science and engineering - even art and music? If so, how?

Children should be encouraged to read anything but the reason why we don’t often see factual books mentioned when it comes to children’s reading is that partly because children often come across these books in their school works, and partly because, by nature, non fiction dose not make a good read for young (primary age) children: they tend to be a lot of illustrations and short descriptions.

We all know and accept that to achieve great things in life, reading novels is not essential (even Kafka ) but we still want to encourage children to read stories for the very reason we value reading literature.

[DracoM]

I don't think 'kids' ever lose the interest in being read to. Even quite senior classes in school can be told to put their pens down and listen to a story for 10-15 mins at the end of a taxing double lesson - even in today's frantic target-chasing.
And it is NOT just because that is a signal that effectively 'learning' is over for the day. It is an exercise in imagination and reconstructive listening, and the feedback is always surprising.

Have even met teachers in boarding schools Ys 9-13 who say that reading stories last thing at night to groups of kids is much anticipated and enjoyed.

[Richard Barrett]

Have even met teachers in boarding schools Ys 9-13 who say that reading stories last thing at night to groups of kids is much anticipated and enjoyed.

I'm sure it is. Reading aloud before sleeping isn't something that needs to be restricted to children either of course! (Although sometimes the listener can fall asleep without the reader noticing...)

[doversoul1]

I don't think 'kids' ever lose the interest in being read to. Even quite senior classes in school can be told to put their pens down and listen to a story for 10-15 mins at the end of a taxing double lesson - even in today's frantic target-chasing.
And it is NOT just because that is a signal that effectively 'learning' is over for the day. It is an exercise in imagination and reconstructive listening, and the feedback is always surprising.

Have even met teachers in boarding schools Ys 9-13 who say that reading stories last thing at night to groups of kids is much anticipated and enjoyed.

Book of the Week proves that we never become tired of being read but parents reading to their children at bedtime involves a few domestic arrangements when children are old and their bedtime becomes late. Also, once children reach a certain age, they may not always want to share their thoughts and feelings with their parents which is perfectly natural. I think 11 is a good age to conclude shared bedtime reading.

[greenilex]

Surely the old terror in Little Women who paid Amy and Jo to read to her because her eyesight was failing is alive and well and living among us? I love listening to my family reading almost anything, and it does rest the eyes most wonderfully.

[vinteuil]

Surely the old terror in Little Women who paid Amy and Jo to read to her because her eyesight was failing is alive and well and living among us? I love listening to my family reading almost anything, and it does rest the eyes most wonderfully.

... not forgetting Evelyn Waugh's The Man Who Liked Dickens and A Handful of Dust, "where an elderly settler rescues and holds captive a lost explorer and requires him to read aloud the novels of Dickens, in perpetuity" - and of course in Dickens, Silas Wegg in Our Mutual Friend required to read to the Boffins - the "Decline and Fall of the Rooshian Empire"...

http://www.victorianlondon.org/etexts/dickens/mutual-0005.shtml

.

[doversoul1]

Surely the old terror in Little Women who paid Amy and Jo to read to her because her eyesight was failing is alive and well and living among us? I love listening to my family reading almost anything, and it does rest the eyes most wonderfully.

I know I shouldn’t keep on about it but a parent reading to his/her child at bedtime is a very specific ‘context’ which can’t be talked about in the same breath as your example or Book of the Week or indeed any of the examples in Draco's post (no offence or anything else meant, Draco). You’d have been seriously worried if your son or daughter had still wanted to be read by you at bedtime when s/he was 15.