With the wealth of quality children’s and young people’s
books available today it slightly surprises me when someone wants their
children to read authors like Enid Blyton. I was reminded of the power of
nostalgia when I heard a young mother who had bought her children some of the “Famous Five” books say she was
most disappointed to find the
stories were much less vivid than they
seemed to her as a s child.
As an 8 year old (in the late 1950’s) travelling on the SS
Strathnaver from England to Australia I had three quarto volumes of Enid Blyton
- the First, Second and Third Enid Blyton Books. They were probably the only
books I had to read so I devoured them and they made an impression. However, even
in my tender years, some of the stories left a bad taste.
The one that even now springs to mind is the story of the
bad apple. In this tale Granny had five boys helping her store apples and
instructs her good little grandson George not to store any apple with any blemish. However
he ignores an apple with a small blemish and this apple rots and turns its neighbours
bad. Granny is asked to look after another boy Sammy who is described as sly
and deceitful; she refuses saying he is a bad apple and would turn the other
boys bad. Read the story 'Grannie's Bad Apple' online in The Second Enid Blyton Book.
Even then, I found this story obnoxious. I could not accept
that that Sammy was irredeemably bad and he was going to adversely affect four others.
Now I understand the underlying class attitude. I know from
reading Robert Thouless’ classic work on logic in argument Straight and Crooked Thinking that this is an argument by analogy
that fails simply because boys are not apples. Imagine what Sammy will turn out to be as an adult if he is
treated as rotten as a child.
Stories frame our confirmation bias; i.e. we tend only to accept evidence that
fits these biases. It is not trivial or “political correctness’ that we
critically asses that the books we give our children are worth the reading.
Richard Pickup
Retiring president CBCA Tas Branch
Retiring president CBCA Tas Branch
I certainly think there is a place for nostalgic fiction, especially when it is a parent sharing a special book with a child. Even if the story disappoints, that can be a wonderful option for discussion. Like all favourites of the past, they don't necessarily stack up in the light of the current century. I have a nostalgic favourite on my bookshelf. A 50c Scholastic book: The Velvet Room by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. My youngest daughter (the only one in our family who doesn't have a book on the go constantly)loved this when she was in high school. She took it to school, and found that her teacher also had fond memories of it and borrowed it to re-read. The bond this gave her with the teacher was amazing. So yes - let's acknowledge the role these books played in the past, share them with our children, and encourage them to share with us the contemporary books they are enjoying.
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