Posted by Peter Ceresole on April 07, 2012 at 01:41:03 user PeterC.
In Reply to: Re: Blyton updated posted by JB on April 05, 2012 at 05:56:33:
To ask whether a children's book has merit is a bit like asking whether a toy tricycle has merit.
You bet. We have a Raleigh toy tricycle. Metal, about 35 years old. It lives in the garden now, and has lost its mudguards, but it has been wholeheartedly enjoyed by our two daughters and is still being enjoyed by our four grandsons. Anne and I are extremely fond of it; it's simple, but extremely effective and, evidently, hugely tough. It's also a cheerful red and yellow. I couldn't even get onto it, but it definitely has merit.
All that matters is whether the child enjoys it and whether it serves as a stepping stone to bigger things. From personal experience I find it bewildering that anyone could deny that this is true of Blyton but I suppose that the optimal stepping stone depends on the child.
The present example isn't Blyton, but J.K.Rowling. I've never managed to enjoy her books and I'm not sure whether my grandsons will either. At the moment they're more into Star Wars and railway trains- I get 'Modern Railways' and one of them always pores over it from cover to cover. But Rowling, helped immensely by comms and globalisation, has easily gone into the Blyton class. I read the first of the Potter books and I was struck by how well, and skilfully, she has assimilated and broadly recycled the Stalky and Just William books. They are proven classics of children's literature, and she has done whatever they did. Built a better tricycle...