Resources

A lifetime's passion starts here
by Amanda Craig
The Times, January 7, 2006

A nice article on parent's and reading with a set of suggestions of when to introduce which titles.

Books are not toys; they are much more magical than that, they are windows into the world of story. Children who have learnt to love books are never bored — how could they be, plugged into some of the greatest entertainment of all time? Yet the gulf between being simply able to read and finding words a uniquely rich source of pleasure is vast. This is a burden — or a privilege — that has to fall on parents. By the time a child gets to school, it’s almost too late, especially if school makes the fatal association between work and reading rather than adventure and reading.

On the assumption that your child has enough vocabulary to understand words such as cat, run, mouse and rabbit, I recommend beginning with . . .

Once upon a time we told our children stories
by Michael Morpurgo
The Times
March 3, 2005

FOR THE past 18 months in my role as Children’s Laureate I have been travelling the country telling stories to young readers and young writers, telling how this particular weaver of tales writes his stories. Like some superannuated strolling player, I have set up and performed wherever anyone would let me: in tiny village halls, grand concert halls, in tents and bookshops and school halls and, once, in an old people’s home; from audiences of 14 children in the small island school on Jura in the Hebrides, to 2,500 people in the Albert Hall. I have talked to families — grandparents, parents and children together. In Broughton-in-Furness and Ulverston in the Lake District, I spoke to children from 24 village schools. All came wide-eyed with excitement and expectancy. I strutted my story stuff as best I could, read to them, and answered their questions: “Were you good at writing when you were young?” “No. But I was unbelievably good at rugby,” I told them, and sent them and their teachers away, buzzing, I hope, about books, enthused to read more and feeling that they, too, have a story to tell and a voice with which to tell it.

Today, World Book Day, hundreds of my fellow writers, and storytellers, illustrators, librarians, teachers and booksellers, are doing just what I’ve been doing. Indeed, they do it all the year round: this is not a one-day wonder. This kind of sustained effort to bring children to books and books to children is much needed and is, in my view, the most effective way of persuading children to become readers and writers.

It is effective because it is personal and because the children know it is meant. Here is someone in front of them who loves stories, who tells them with such passion that the world of reading, the sheer joy, fun and wonder of it, can be opened up to children who may never have enjoyed books at all. A young life can be changed that way, enriched for ever.

When you think of the extraordinary talent among our children’s writers, storytellers and illustrators, it is not surprising that so many children turn to books and become readers after just such an encounter.

Writers and illustrators visit schools all the time, the books exist, various and brilliant enough for all ages and tastes, the publishers design them beautifully, there are dedicated librarians, teachers and booksellers working their socks off to engage children in reading and there are bold and imaginative initiatives such as World Book Day, the wonderful Book Start project and Storyquest. So why do we fail to engage so many children? . . .

Finding Neverland
By Barbara Feinberg
Boston Globe
July 17, 2005

One night, when my daughter was about to turn 7, I asked her what she wanted for her birthday. We discussed various toys, and after a while she began to drift off to sleep. I had just tiptoed out when she jolted awake and suddenly sat up. There must have been a moon through the window, because I recall the bright clarity of her face. ''I know just what I want!" she said. ''I want a little room. One you could put in my real room." . . .

Dahl's stern morality gives his work the edge
Nicolette Jones
Times Online June 21, 2005

ROALD DAHL has a reputation for subversiveness and political incorrectness, which most people assume is why children love reading him. When his books were promoted in a television advertisement, its slogan was: “Nice children don’t read Dahl”. In fact, Dahl’s books are a mixture of wild impropriety and very high standards indeed of children’s behaviour — and that of their parents.

Yes, Dahl lets George poison his bad-tempered grandmother in George’s Marvellous Medicine with a concoction that includes paraffin, sheep-dip and engine oil. He lets Matilda put superglue inside her father’s hat. A child in the same novel puts itching powder in her headteacher’s gym knickers. The hero of Danny, the Champion of the World, who is about 10, takes it upon himself to drive his father’s car several miles. And in James and the Giant Peach the horrible aunts Sponge and Spiker are run over until they are “ironed out upon the grass as flat and thin and lifeless as a couple of paper dolls cut out of a picture book”, though the hit-and-run peach is not, to be fair, really under James’s control. . . .

Once Upon a Time We Told Our Children Stories
Michael Morpurgo
The Times March 3, 2005

FOR THE past 18 months in my role as Children’s Laureate I have been travelling the country telling stories to young readers and young writers, telling how this particular weaver of tales writes his stories. Like some superannuated strolling player, I have set up and performed wherever anyone would let me: in tiny village halls, grand concert halls, in tents and bookshops and school halls and, once, in an old people’s home; from audiences of 14 children in the small island school on Jura in the Hebrides, to 2,500 people in the Albert Hall. I have talked to families — grandparents, parents and children together. In Broughton-in-Furness and Ulverston in the Lake District, I spoke to children from 24 village schools. All came wide-eyed with excitement and expectancy. I strutted my story stuff as best I could, read to them, and answered their questions: “Were you good at writing when you were young?” “No. But I was unbelievably good at rugby,” I told them, and sent them and their teachers away, buzzing, I hope, about books, enthused to read more and feeling that they, too, have a story to tell and a voice with which to tell it.

Today, World Book Day, hundreds of my fellow writers, and storytellers, illustrators, librarians, teachers and booksellers, are doing just what I’ve been doing. Indeed, they do it all the year round: this is not a one-day wonder. This kind of sustained effort to bring children to books and books to children is much needed and is, in my view, the most effective way of persuading children to become readers and writers. . . .

A lifetime's passion starts here
By Amanda Craig
The Times January 7, 2006

TO GET A CHILD AGED under 7 hooked on books may seem to be the hardest thing you’ve done. With an excellent Ultimate Book Guide for teenagers out next month from A & C Black, and the launch of www.readingzone.com, a website funded by the Arts Council, it has never been easier to find good books — though persuading a child to fall in love with them is still another matter.

Books are not toys; they are much more magical than that, they are windows into the world of story. Children who have learnt to love books are never bored — how could they be, plugged into some of the greatest entertainment of all time? Yet the gulf between being simply able to read and finding words a uniquely rich source of pleasure is vast. This is a burden — or a privilege — that has to fall on parents. By the time a child gets to school, it’s almost too late, especially if school makes the fatal association between work and reading rather than adventure and reading. . . .

It is so delightful when you find someone who has written a piece on an issue which you might have been mulling over and find that they have written about it much better than you ever could have.

One of the issues motivating the establishment of Through the Magic Door has been to try and counteract the very large volume of unremittingly negative children's books that have come out in the past couple of decades. Some of these are wonderfully well written. Many have been award winners. But there are so many and they are so dark.

It makes you want to take up arms - Optimists of the World Unite!

I have just discovered an author, Barbara Feinberg, who has written a delightful piece which is an exploration of why our children are being burdened with all these negative novels. Please take a look at her article, Reflections on the "Problem Novel" which is adapted from her book, Welcome to Lizard Motel.

With her delightful essay, I can safely point to her words and restrain myself from ranting.