Posted by Prue Eckett on October 25, 2006 at 06:14:54 from 222.152.108.51 user PrueEckett.
In Reply to: AR's other writings (Was Signals?) posted by Jock on October 23, 2006 at 09:00:19:
What does concern me is whether indeed AR will be read in another seventy years. 'Our' generation is hard to define, but the fall off of AR readers is not. As a child I knew several people who had read and were enthusiasts of AR, in my children's generation, one. My own children certainly read him but he never clicked with them while one of my daughter's classmates absolutely adored his books and we had a good chat about them often. I've tried them on the younger nieces without success and, when talking to book retailers, AR's books are not popular, although some shops still stock one or two.
The sad lack of advertising and spin-offs might have something to do with this, I don't know(and am not prepared to stick to my guns about as I'm not a marketing expert), but amongst the few sailing people I still know, the books are not current in their families.