Why Read Children's Books, or, Editor Julian North's Personal Business View

As perhaps our readers may have guessed by this time, and judging from our list of 'Books to read Aloud,' I am unquestionably in love with children's books.

(Good children's books, that is. The world of children's publishing is full, it is true, of irritating, puerile characters and brash stereotypes, but the certain class of book I am talking of is less commercial than it is authentic.) One might wonder why...

I give myself free leave to be serious, I am afraid, in this post.


Children's authors, as Joan Aiken perceptively observes, have a much bigger responsibility than authors of the common sort (I use this qualifying term with all due respect). A child will only read, it is estimated, a certain number of books during the course of childhood; thus, every book counts, when it comes to informing, enlightening, and above all kindling a sense of wonder without being dreary or didactic.

Children's books, I find, are very often truer in perception of character than the rest of the vast ocean of literature. They depict characters which, though often oversimplified, are true in essence--for a child will not abide stodgy characterisations or a lack of heart. The issues presented are so often so much nearer the mark, when it comes to an understanding of human problems..

..for often, in our multivariating world, the common author seeks to depict only suffering, without meaning, or plot, without purpose. Why lapse into nihilism if there is a chance of a happy ending? Happy endings breed optimism, which in turn cultivates action. Cynicism, or nihilist/existentialist dilemmas do just the opposite. For if a person believes there is no reason to hope, why would they strive for the best, for change, growth, life?

Likewise, it takes a true maturity to exhibit optimism--for, as we have all doubtless seen, any adolescent can dowse into cynicism.

This maturity, children are born with. If they lose it over time, it is our responsiblity to look to ourselves, to see what in us is fostering this unnatural trait. All of nature is in a constant state of change, of growth, cycles of birth and ephemery. Let us keep the fade-and-fall of optimism, of hope, of expansion, alive. Let us do it through literature.