Posted by Paul Flint on May 28, 2001 at 19:27:00 from 195.92.194.19:
In Reply to: Re: Events for youngsters to encourage interest in AR's books posted by Eric Abraham on May 28, 2001 at 14:40:32:
Thank you for your thoughts on promoting an interest in AR’s books. All much appreciated.
I think I may have created rather the wrong impression about the boat racing. The primary aim, in this instance, was to raise money for a school charity (not specifically to promote the Swallows and Amazons books), but we decided to have a Swallows and Amazons theme night to do this. There was no “hype”, just a lot of good fun amongst those taking part, and a gratifying outcome was that quite a number of children are now reading AR for the first time.
I am concerned that the readership of AR’s books is diminishing and that knowledge of them amongst younger people, and many of their parents, is often minimal or non-existent. Several of the Cape hardbacks are now out of print for the first time, and in my local libraries the relatively few AR books are not much used, judging by the date stamps in the front of them. Even my own young family, at an age when I read the books avidly, find the novels rather dated and pedestrian (they do, however, enjoy undertaking AR-type activities themselves). Although I find this lack of obvious interest in the Swallows and Amazons books a little dispiriting I have some sympathy for my boys’ view, considering the attraction of the wide range of reading material available to them. Thirty plus years ago AR was much more of a household name, and there was less literary output with which to compete, but there has been a lot of water under the bridge since. This, if nothing else, may have tended to “dilute” knowledge of and interest in AR. Also, interests and activities for young people have changed significantly. Youngsters are perhaps much more inclined to regard the AR novels as period pieces now than I would have done as a child.
Despite the fact that people have a lot more leisure time these days, and boat ownership and camping are far more common, there may be less opportunity in the present day for many children to try and emulate ideas in the stories – not least because parents often now do not let their children roam alone for reasons of safety. My parents, living near the Lake District in the 1920s and 30s, did undertake a lot of AR-type activities unsupervised. In the 1960s and 70s I did much the same, but now there is a new generation of parents less inclined, rightly or wrongly, to let their off-spring disappear for the day on bikes or into the countryside because there is a perception that life is more dangerous. This, combined with other attractions such as computer games and overseas holidays in hotels etc, is that sadly for many, perhaps the majority, of children in the appropriate age group they may be less likely to approach AR through undertaking outdoor activities than they would have done some years ago.
Generally speaking, I do not like too obviously creating “artificial” opportunities for children to encounter AR, but equally it does no harm every now and again to use novel means of drawing attention to his stories. If a child does not read AR through lack of awareness, then that is an opportunity lost for that person to have really enjoyed a great reading experience – which would be rather sad.
I am aware of a number of youngsters who have approached AR as a result of sailing and outdoor activities, and I encourage these amongst my own children and others, generally without introducing any reference to AR. Some of these children, happily, find AR for themselves or with only a slight “nudge” in the right direction. Equally, in inner city schools for example, where resources and opportunities are limited and outdoor events are rare of non-existent, I am happy to see a whole variety of subtle and less subtle means used to raise awareness of AR books. It is a case of “horses for courses”, although I am sure there is an appropriate AR analogy!