Posted by Adam Quinan on July 24, 2003 at 21:49:36 from 66.185.85.76 user Adam.
In Reply to: Re: Broadening one's horizons posted by Jonathan Labaree on July 24, 2003 at 16:26:38:
As has already been pointed out, in the days before television consumed hours a day there wasn't that much else to do except read books. So growing up without a TV, I did.
I first read Robinson Crusoe in a child's abridged book at quite a young age. Similarly I read such other indigestible staple classics as Swiss Family Robinson and Gulliver's Travels in children's editions first. I am not sure if I have ever read Robinson Crusoe completely from front to back though I have read from an unabridged version. Such children's books were not new when I was growing up in the 1950s and '60s. It is quite possible that Ransome (and his creations) first read these classics in a child's version.
Another possibility is that Daddy or Mother read aloud to them. I recall my father reading us Treasure Island when my brothers were quite young, and they seemed to enjoy it.