Anti-Tank Missile

[aeolium]

At the risk of lowering the tone of the R3 Arts forum, I enjoyed this mini-rant about the fictional world created by the Rev W Awdry. I live not terribly far from a steam heritage railway where they periodically run Thomas the Tank Engine days and although I remember little of the Awdry stories, it's interesting to see how they can excite such vehemence (I particularly like 'existential enginism' - a subject for a dissertation perhaps?) But it also prompts reflections about how people's reactions to books they read in their childhood change ("how could I have read that stuff?" or "how could I not have noticed that?")

Do you think differently about what you read as a child, or simply regard children's books as something of little interest, something you have long put behind you?

[amateur51]

I was never keen on Thomas as a child being read to and I recall having several fits of the hab-dabs when one of the trains (was it Trevor?) was covered in tar so that half his face was hidden - work that one out

My relationship with Winnie-the-Pooh and friends was far richer and continues to this day. Any child who wants some Pooh read has a friend and willing reader in me - tho I do object that these days he's been re-drawn by Walt-bl**dy-Disney

I think that part of Pooh's charm is that he can mean different things to different people, young and old. I once passed a crucial Pharmacology exam with an essay "Winnie-the-Pooh by AA Milne As A Typical Manic -Depressive" The viva examiner, who had failed me twice previously, actually smiled as I walked in , saying "You're the chap who wrote about Pooh? I've never laughed at an exam answer before!" It's amazing what panic, adrenaline and a good memory can do for you

I had to organise a memorial service for friend who'd died young and I closed my bit by reading the section in which Christopher Robin explains to Pooh that he is going off to school so that they won't be able to play any more. The room was in floods and afterwards someone came up & commended me for getting Bhuddism into the event

[vinteuil]

The room was in floods and afterwards someone came up & commended me for getting Bhuddism into the event

... yes, while your Buddhist would be serenely dispassionately aloof from such mortal afflictions as weeping - the B huddist, or boo-hoo-dist, sectarian is prone to welling up....

[amateur51]

... yes, while your Buddhist would be serenely dispassionately aloof from such mortal afflictions as weeping - the B huddist, or boo-hoo-dist, sectarian is prone to welling up....

You had to be there ...

[french frank]

Do you think differently about what you read as a child, or simply regard children's books as something of little interest, something you have long put behind you?

The latter. No personal affection for any of the books I read as a child. Occasionally a William or Enid Blyton book comes to my attention but their only interest is as reminders: I wouldn't want to sit down and read them again.

Now I think about it, there was one exception: Treasure Island which I did reread in recent years, and I have great admiration for Stevenson's writing. It was read to us at my village primary school and the latest episode was always a source of discussion at breaktime, especially the immortal line:



"One more step, Mr Hands, and I'll blow your brains out."

[Anna]

I don't recall ever reading Thomas the Tank. I have a huge affection for Winnie but curse Mr. Disney for his portrayal. The only childrens book I have re-read lately is Wind in the Willows and Swallows & Amazons, although I have been tempted by the odd Enid Blyton in a charity shop (Mallory Towers) I've just remembered I did buy a copy of Peter Pan about 2 years ago but it's still sitting on the shelf. Edit: I did read Alice in Wonderland last year as it's a slim volume and I picked it for a train journey.

[Nick Armstrong]

I don't recall ever reading Thomas the Tank. I have a huge affection for Winnie but curse Mr. Disney for his portrayal.

No Thomas the Tank Engine??!

I loved the books, ditto the Pooh books. No adaptation / animation did justice to either I think.

The same is true of my favourite of all childhood books, the Paddington series. Perfection, and rewarding to re-read even now

[Anna]

The same is true of my favourite of all childhood books, the Paddington series. Perfection, and rewarding to re-read even now

You won't believe this but I still have a Paddington Bear, complete with wellies, duffel coat and hat and label "Please look after this bear"

[Serial_Apologist]

You won't believe this but I still have a Paddington Bear, complete with wellies, duffel coat and hat and label "Please look after this bear"

I ws born in Paddington bare

[amateur51]

You won't believe this but I still have a Paddington Bear, complete with wellies, duffel coat and hat and label "Please look after this bear"

Comfort yourself with the knowledge that it could quite well have been made by Jeremy Clarkson's mother, Anna

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1026641/Ever-wondered-Jeremy-Clarkson-trouble-Well-meet-mum-.html

Aaaaaaaaw

[aeolium]

"One more step, Mr Hands, and I'll blow your brains out."

Yes, that is the line, and the episode, that I most remember about Treasure Island (though the illustration in the book when I first read it was much more powerful than that one, with a snarling Hands looking up).

I think children's books divide themselves into three types: those which are and remain for children and are not really readable later in life (most of the animated books like Tintin, Babar, Bunter stories, Struwwelpeter, most of Lear etc); those which can be read either by children or adults (I'd put Treasure Island, Moonfleet, some of the Kästner stories, the better E Nesbit books, the Tolkien stories, some of Buchan, Rider Haggard etc in this category); and those which are really wasted on children, in which I'd include the Lewis Carroll books and Huckleberry Finn, or Russell Hoban's The Mouse and his Child. Children's books are unfairly looked down on by some who probably think it is easier to write one than it really is, requiring a particular skill and quality of mind (which does not mean there are not some pretty poor examples).

What struck me about the Tank Engine article was that imv it was someone reacting in a quite different way to the way a child would respond - the things that stand out for the writer are surely not what would stand out for a child. I can't remember being shocked or frightened by violence or cruelty in books I read as a child; for instance the Scissor-Man cutting off Conrad's thumbs in Struwwelpeter was not as striking to me as the face of angry Agrippa which seemed to occupy the whole of a large page. I think adults underestimate the extent to which children, accustomed to a world in which they have no power and see violence and cruelty (e.g. bullying) fairly regularly, accept that its appearance in books is simply part of that world. Books which seek to insulate and protect the child in some way do not make a strong impression (I thought this was true of the Blyton books, which I found unreadable even then).