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| There should always be an elephant in the room! |
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| Do you remember Mog, his author Judith Kerr was 94 (it might be 95) yesterday |
I have always loved the picture books of younger children and took great delight in the stories of Mog. I read an article about Kerr, who was Jewish and her family had fled to England. She wrote that famous story 'The Tiger who came to Tea'. The tiger walked into this little girl's house ate all the food up, drank all the water and then left, never to return. Well this critic said that the story rested on the fact that Kerr's family had to flee Germany, 'rubbish' said Kerr I told the story, completely made up, to my young son. Sometimes we become too educated in our analysis and forget simplicity. As for my other favourite children books, Asterik takes some beating and then there is Graham Oakley's 'Church Mice',
"The Times Literary Supplement, for example, noted that Oakley shows "how effectively words and pictures can be crafted together, so that our understanding of the story depends on the two"
Sadly my grandchildren have all grown into far more sensible readers, Lillie at 11 years old has was reading 'The Handmaid's Tale' last time I saw her, not exactly cheerful!
I hate that they lose their innocence and wonder so fast! I also love children's books.
ReplyDeleteI had forgotten Shirley Hughes - Dogger and Alfie....;)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.alfiebooks.co.uk/allaboutshirleyhughes.asp
Yes with all this technology around innocence is soon lost.
My son (now aged 60)was always mad about Dr Seuss books when he was small (The Cat in the Hat comes back) and he still has a copy of a Ladybird Book about 'Lazy Little Piggly Wriggly' which (if you can persuade him when he has had a whisky or two) he can almost recite from start to finish as it is in rhyme.
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough I am not a Seuss fan Pat, though my grandchildren liked it. I remember those Ladybird books, the purveyors of information from an early age.
ReplyDelete