Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Children's books
Why do they make kids books so sad? This weeked I was reminded of just how sad kids books are. My kids were at the library and checked out the movie, "The Bridge to Tarabithia." And let me tell you its sad! Right up there with "Where the Red Fern Grows." As a kid I read both of these books, and failed to comprehend the full extent of the sadness thereof. Now that I have grown up and appreciate more the difference between happiness and sadness I choose not to engage in activities that make me feel these sorts of feelings and make a conscious effort to avoid them. For this reason I have sucessfully avoided authors like John Steinbeck (and Jeremiah, although I don't think there was any capitalization involved in his instance), who seem to relish human misery and in fact capitalize on it! I will not support these harolders of hard times, exultators of undue emotion, and harbingers of heavy hearts! There are not enough hours in the day to languish in lamentations. Just entertain me (there really should be a Transformers novel) or teach me.
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3 comments:
Amen brother! Nice alliteration.
Read this comment by C.S. Lewis:
Those who say that children must not be frightened may mean two things. They may mean (1) that we must not do anything likely to give the child those haunting, disabling, pathological fears against which ordinary courage is helpless: in fact, phobias. His mind must, if possible, be kept clear of things he can’t bear to think of. Or they may mean (2) that we must try to keep out of his mind the knowledge that he is born into a world of death, violence, wounds, adventure, heroism and cowardice, good and evil. If they mean the first I agree with them: but not if they mean the second. The second would indeed be to give children a false impression and feed them on escapism in the bad sense. There is something ludicrous in the idea of so educating a generation which is born to the…atomic bomb. Since it is so likely that they will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker.
And check out this speech in IMPRIMIS, by Michael Flaherty, president of Walden Media (Bridge to Terebithia) - he addresses your concerns directly.
http://www.hillsdale.edu/news/imprimis/archive/issue.asp?year=2007&month=02
For my part, I love an emotional story as long as it isn't a cheap cry. If there is a moral or message, or as Lewis says, heroism and courage, I'm hooked. At the same time, I've always found Oliver Twist difficult to read since everything that could go wrong, does. At least until the end...
I've been to Taribithia.
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