Posted by T. E. Jancek on 1/04/100 from northrup-tty10.slic.com:
John Birch (see below) condemns the notion 'that children of today are somehow different from children of past generations, and [that] S&A ... would not [therefore] appeal to [them].' 'What nonsense!' he says.Is it? As luck would have it, I've just finished looking over the newly-released Schoolsnet league tables of '[UK] teenager's favourite authors'. It makes fascinating reading. R. L. Stine heads the list, with Dickens bringing up the rear at 104th place. J. K. Rowling is there, in 43d position. So, too, are Roald Dahl (3), Enid Blyton (59), Tolkien (42), C.S. Lewis (66), and Shakespeare (50).
Arthur Ransome, however, has dropped right off the bottom and out of sight. He's simply nowhere to be found.
What's going on here? Did Schoolsnet get it wrong? Or has Ransome passed his sell-by date? Are his holiday romances read today by no more than a handful of upper-middle-class kids and their aging parents? Just how well are Ransome's books selling, in the UK and elsewhere? Who's buying them? Who's reading them? Do they have anything at all to say to the overwhelming majority of modern children? Or do they now appeal only to an embattled cadre of Lost Boys (and Girls), all clinging desperately to a past that never was?
Your thoughts?
T. E. Jancek