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Why You Should Read Children's Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise by Katherine Rundell
madhamster's review
5.0
Oh, if I quoted the bits of this book which sung in my heart - I would be quoting the book in its entirety.
Yes, I am prejudiced. I am a children's librarian who unashamedly reads children's books. Sometimes, in preference to adult books.
But, this quote is fabulous:
Ignore those who would call it mindless escapism: it's not escapism: it is findism. Children's books are not a hiding place, they are a seeking place.
Yes, I am prejudiced. I am a children's librarian who unashamedly reads children's books. Sometimes, in preference to adult books.
But, this quote is fabulous:
Ignore those who would call it mindless escapism: it's not escapism: it is findism. Children's books are not a hiding place, they are a seeking place.
maryloulynninmi's review
4.0
This is a good look at all of the things that make children's literature well worth an adult's time. A short read, but a good one.
es_biomed's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
has so many good quotes
paperbacksandpines's review
3.0
...Children's fiction necessitates distillation: at its best, it renders in their purest, most archetypal forms hope, hunger, joy, fear.
This book was a manifesto on why children's books are for everyone. I loved Rundell's critique of Martin Amis's critique of children's literature. She's correct. By demeaning it, he totally missed the essence of children's literature.
So it's to children's fiction that you turn if you want to feel awe and hunger and longing for justice...
This book was was simple but it packed a punch. I'd recommend it to any reader but especially those who are jaded and world weary and to those who think children's literature holds nothing of value for adult readers.
I will leave you with a quote from C.S. Lewis:
"A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest."
This book was a manifesto on why children's books are for everyone. I loved Rundell's critique of Martin Amis's critique of children's literature. She's correct. By demeaning it, he totally missed the essence of children's literature.
So it's to children's fiction that you turn if you want to feel awe and hunger and longing for justice...
This book was was simple but it packed a punch. I'd recommend it to any reader but especially those who are jaded and world weary and to those who think children's literature holds nothing of value for adult readers.
I will leave you with a quote from C.S. Lewis:
"A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest."
amycrea's review
5.0
"Ignore those who would call it mindless escapism: it's not escapism: it is findism. Children's books are not a hiding place, they are a seeking place."
ulrikaupe's review
5.0
Brīnišķīgs atgādinājums par bērnu literatūras maģiju!
“Bērnu grāmatas nav slēptuves, tās ir vieta meklējumiem”. (41.lpp.)
“Bērnu grāmatas nav slēptuves, tās ir vieta meklējumiem”. (41.lpp.)
jwsg's review
4.0
In Why You Should Read Children's Books Even Though You Are Old and Wise, Rundell debunks the notion that most adults have that "we should only read in one direction, because to do otherwise would be to regress or retreat: to demature…The difficulties with the rule of readerly progression are many: one is that, if one followed the same pattern into adulthood, tyrning always to books of increasing complexity, you'd be left ultimately with nothing but Finnegans Wake and the complete works of…Jacques Derrida to cheer your deathbed".
Rundell reminds us that:
#1: "children's books are specifically written to be read by a section of society without political or economic power. People who have no money, no vote, no control over capital or labour or the institutions of state; who navigate the world in their knowledge of vulnerability. And, by the same measure, by people who are not yet preoccupied by the obligation of labour, not yet skilled in forcing their own prejudices on to other people and chewing at their own hearts. And because at so many times in life, despite what we tell ourselves, adults are powerless too, we as adults must hasten to children's books to be reminded of what we have left to us, whenever we need to start out all over again."
#2: That when we read children's fiction, we (re)learn how to read with a sense of wonder, imagination and an open heart. Rundell muses that "[t]hose who write for children are trying to arm them for the life ahead with everything we can find that is true. And perhaps, also, secretly, to arm adults against those necessary compromises and necessary heartbreaks that life involves: to remind them that there are and always will be great, sustaining truths to which we can return."
Rundell's piece is a compact 70 pages and a lovely reminder of the pleasures and wisdom that can be found in children's books, and that one can read children's books for one's own sake, and not just for the kiddos.
Rundell reminds us that:
#1: "children's books are specifically written to be read by a section of society without political or economic power. People who have no money, no vote, no control over capital or labour or the institutions of state; who navigate the world in their knowledge of vulnerability. And, by the same measure, by people who are not yet preoccupied by the obligation of labour, not yet skilled in forcing their own prejudices on to other people and chewing at their own hearts. And because at so many times in life, despite what we tell ourselves, adults are powerless too, we as adults must hasten to children's books to be reminded of what we have left to us, whenever we need to start out all over again."
#2: That when we read children's fiction, we (re)learn how to read with a sense of wonder, imagination and an open heart. Rundell muses that "[t]hose who write for children are trying to arm them for the life ahead with everything we can find that is true. And perhaps, also, secretly, to arm adults against those necessary compromises and necessary heartbreaks that life involves: to remind them that there are and always will be great, sustaining truths to which we can return."
Rundell's piece is a compact 70 pages and a lovely reminder of the pleasures and wisdom that can be found in children's books, and that one can read children's books for one's own sake, and not just for the kiddos.
pleasejustletmeread's review
4.0
Not quite what I was expecting when I picked it up, but still a great read with some interesting hypotheses and reflections. A recommended read if you want to broaden your horizon a bit (and who doesn't?
scarletohhara's review
5.0
Starting with a fond memory of the author spending time in a library and reading all the books in the two shelves there to why everyone should be reading children’s books, Rundell takes us through a history of how children’s books evolved from being looked down to strictly instructional to educational to, finally entertaining.
She goes on to account how she found solace in books as a child and how there is no children’s book that adults can’t read. She explores how books back in mid-19th century had subtle politics in them, how they sparked imagination a and gave hope - something all adults need especially in these dismal times. She exalts the role of libraries providing a safe space for all citizens and urges to increase funding for libraries - this is exactly the kind of book I’d have written if I could write so well.
As someone who got started on the Harry Potter books in her 20s and loved them all, discovered Neil Gaiman with The Ocean At The End of the Lane only a decade ago and is going to pick up the Aru Shah series coz a child recommended it to her, I strongly support this - we must read children’s books, always!
She goes on to account how she found solace in books as a child and how there is no children’s book that adults can’t read. She explores how books back in mid-19th century had subtle politics in them, how they sparked imagination a and gave hope - something all adults need especially in these dismal times. She exalts the role of libraries providing a safe space for all citizens and urges to increase funding for libraries - this is exactly the kind of book I’d have written if I could write so well.
As someone who got started on the Harry Potter books in her 20s and loved them all, discovered Neil Gaiman with The Ocean At The End of the Lane only a decade ago and is going to pick up the Aru Shah series coz a child recommended it to her, I strongly support this - we must read children’s books, always!