 |
|
|
|
Why Should
Young Readers
Have All the Fun?
by Lahring Tribe
|
|
|
You're not sure how it happened. Maybe you loved the books you read as
a child, and never abandoned that love. Maybe you started reading to
your children, and discovered a whole new world of pleasure. And now
you have a dark little secret-you're an adult who enjoys children's
books.
Stop feeling guilty or apologetic! You don't have to be ashamed or
justify yourself. There are many wonderful books for kids that cross
over impeccably to an adult readership.
Some of these books are simply beautiful objects in
which design, text and illustrations blend in works
that enthrall all ages. Take The People Could
Fly, by Virginia Hamilton, illustrated by two-time
Caldecott winners Leo and Diane Dillon. From the endpapers
with their laminated feathers, to Hamilton's captivating
tale of the magical words that allowed slaves to escape
to the glowing paintings of people literally flying
away from bondage, this book conveys everything from
the bite of the overseer's whip to the universal human
desire for freedom. Read this and feel your spirit soar!
Others tell stories as compelling as any adult novel.
David Almond's Whitbread Award-winning The Fire-Eaters,
set in northeastern England at the time of the Cuban
Missile Crisis, tells of Bobby Burns and the sometimes-ordinary,
sometimes-threatening, sometimes-magical world he inhabits.
Ordinary, in the games he plays with his friends; threatening
in the struggles he faces at school and the ominous
illness of his father; magical in his friend who can
heal fawns with her dreams and a man who can eat fire,
all executed in "prose that takes one's breath away"
(Booklist). In B for Buster by Iain
Lawrence, sixteen-year-old Kak is desperate to escape
his abusive home, and enrolls in the Air Force —
soon finding himself flying bombing raids. The expected
glamour is replaced by terror — surely none of
the other crewmen feel the same fear?
Sometimes our inner child needs nurturing. Whittington
by Alan Armstrong will recall Charlotte's Web
with its animal protagonists and barn setting, but it
also features two children, Abby and Ben, who at eight
can barely read. Inspired by Whittington the cat's retelling
of his ancestor's story (his ancestor having accompanied
Dick Whittington on his travels from medieval London
to the Far East), Ben learns to read. No wonder —
the book is unputdownable once the cat starts to spin
his tale. Philip Pullman plays with elements from classic
adventure stories and fairytales in The Scarecrow
and His Servant, starring a scarecrow with
a turnip head who comes to life when struck by lightning.
Accompanied by his faithful servant, a boy he found
sleeping in a barn, he goes off to seek fame, fortune
and love in a series of adventures that echo Don
Quixote, Treasure Island,
and Robinson Crusoe for starters, battling
the evil forces that are trying to usurp his inheritance.
Laugh-out-loud funny in many places — Pullman
inserts many touches that only an adult will understand
— this is over-the-top storytelling at its best.
And why shouldn't adults get to read for fun once in
a while? If you've had it up to here with your toddler's
favourite bedtime story, take a break with Terry Pratchett's
Where's My Cow? It starts out as a
celebration of parents reading to children, echoing
P.D. Eastman's classic Are You My Mother?,
then deviates into delightfully Pratchett-esque mayhem.
Finally, if you are on the verge of being driven mad
by heartwarming Christmas specials on TV, you will find
the perfect antidote in Anne Fine's acerbic The
More the Merrier, featuring a family who put
the "dys" in "dysfunctional". Nutty Great Aunt Ida,
crusty Great-Grandma, potato-hurling Uncle Tristram,
and ghastly cousins Titania, Sylvester and Sylvia and
their peculiar parents descend on the too-small Mountfield
residence for three days of attempted merry-making and
family bonding. The TV breaks, culinary disasters strike,
and general mayhem erupts — a bit hard on young
Ralph, but guaranteeing tears of laughter (if not a
few moments of recognition) for the reader. |
|
|
|
 |
|
 |