children's books

My post on children's books provoked several comments. Jonathan mentioned the Swallows and Amazons series, which meant a great deal to him - as they had also to his older siblings Rebecca and especially David. I never read these books when I was young. The first in the series, Swallows and Amazons, was published in the early 1930s but didn't become widely known and read by youngsters until the series was fleshed out with more books, and that didn't happen until after the 1939-45 world war. Our kids read these books on their own. By the time the first one appeared in our home they were reading books on their own, not having books read aloud to them by Wendy or me, usually by me, because reading aloud to our children was one of my great pleasures in life. Jonathan also mentioned The Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jannson; that's another I never read. But I did read The Borrowers, and The Railway Children, and many others, as a child reading to myself, as a father reading to his children, or both. The ones I listed in that earlier post are just the few that meant the most to me. If others who read this blog care to weigh in, I have no doubt that the list of important children's books will grow much longer. For instance, our grandchildren have been captivated by all seven Harry Potter books, and the books Terry Pratchet has written about his imaginary worlds. Then there is Philip Pullman, whose marvellous books about the little girl called Lyra are, I think, better written and have greater depth than J K Rowling's books about Harry Potter, Hermione Grainger, Ron Weasley and the other richly realized characters associated with Hogwarts School. Of the making of books there is no end, and this is as true of books written primarily for child readers as for any other kind of reader. I'm sure I will have plenty more to say in this blog about books and reading.