Posted by Jock on January 11, 2009 at 10:58:49 user Jock.
In Reply to: Re: Jilly Cooper's comment posted by Dave Thewlis on January 11, 2009 at 02:20:09:
I expect that I'll be in an old people's home before I ever get round to reading a book by Jilly Cooper,
however, I will admit to having some sympathy with her observation. [Pause for astonished gasps.]
I'm not arguing that successful children's books need to have their heroes snogging a la J K Rawlings,
but rather that young children are not bereft of strong romantic feelings altogether and that to treat
this subject with suitable skill is not incompatible with writing great books for children. Here are
some examples which come to mind.
The attraction the girls feel for the mysterious Maurice is extremely well communicated by Pamela
Whitlock and Katharine Hull in The Far-Distant Oxus. Philip Pullman deals equally well with the
developing relationship between Lyra and Will in The Amber Spyglass.
Ransome seemed to have no problems with writing about the sexual attraction between adults. See
Two Shorts and a Long published as part of the posthumous anthology of unpublished Ransome
writings in Coots in the North. It's just that it seems just a tad unlikely that none of his Amazons,
Swallows or D's appear to have even the tiniest romantic attachment.