Children’s books are never just for children
Many adults - in fact well-known authors - have re-read books that have had a noticeable impact in their infancy. So why is children's literature not considered worthy?
Who remembers the plays of AA Milne or the political writing of Erich Kästner today? However, their children's books are read all over the world.
Salman Rushdie has suggested that his children's books, among all his works, including Midnight's Children, who have won the Best of the Booker prize, can last a long time. He recalls that he was under pressure from the publisher Kurt Maschler, who had published Emil Kästner and the detectives.
"As Kurt Maschler said:" This is the only one of his books that has yet to be printed! "It was a lesson I had not forgotten. It is possible that Haroun and the sea of stories, Luka and the fire of life are my only books to print. And that would be good, actually.
Neil Gaiman tells a story similar to that of AA Milne, who is no longer remembered as a playwright or punch editor from the West End, but only as "the author of two short stories and two bundles of verses for young children".
It is surprising how long children's books can last. An explanation can be the way they are read.
Another explanation may be that children's books are designed to be read again. Because all children's writers are aware that our books can be read by children themselves.
"Yes, children read and reread their favorite books," says Francesca Simon. "My favorite books from Horrid Henry to sign are those that are so upset and recolored that they are practically translucent. When Simon Mayo interviewed me, he said he had read it to his children more than 200 times. He looked like a fine man ...
Gaiman, who writes for all ages, has a similar vision. "When I write for children," he says, "I always assume that a story, if loved, will be re-read. So I try to be much more aware of it than adults, only in terms of word choice. I I have already said that although I could not justify every word in the American gods, I can justify every word in Coraline. "
Many parents will already know. Sometimes they are even afraid that there will be a problem with a child who reads his favorite books instead of new ones.
"They are not abnormal," says Charlotte Hacking of the Center for Primary Literacy (CLPE). "Children need to read and reread and go back to books, look at them in different ways. It's really a good thing; it allows you to move on."
So replay is a fact for children's authors. This is one of the reasons why we try to write books on multiple levels that work on different levels, with repetition enriched each time.
But if this is true, why are children's books rarely considered as literary prizes such as Man Booker and Costa? This year's Costa cover hardly considered the possibility that the winner of the five children of Kate Saunders on the western front could win the final prize.
Yet it is an exceptional book that already looks like a classic. Saunders takes these neglected Edwardian children with them and immerses them in the First World War. Because they belonged to the generation that would die in the trenches and work with a devastating emotional effect.
"It's a fantastic book," says Julia Eccleshare, a publisher of children's books at The Guardian. "If it was an adult book that worked with Jane Austen, people would be happy. The text game about a classic in the adult world would receive much more praise at the moment than I think was noticed."
This is perhaps not surprising, because only the winner of the Costa / Whitbread Children's Book Award has won the book title of the year. It was Philip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass in 2001.
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The Amber Spyglass Illustration: PR
"Since then it is no longer successful," says Pullman. "But one day they will have to find a book to which they have to deliver it alone. Maybe one day a children's book will receive the Booker prize. Why not? Why not an author for children who wins the Nobel Prize?"
Sarah Churchwell, one of Booker's jurors last year, wrote about the evaluation process. He says this "asks the books for something .
Who remembers the plays of AA Milne or the political writing of Erich Kästner today? However, their children's books are read all over the world.
Salman Rushdie has suggested that his children's books, among all his works, including Midnight's Children, who have won the Best of the Booker prize, can last a long time. He recalls that he was under pressure from the publisher Kurt Maschler, who had published Emil Kästner and the detectives.
"As Kurt Maschler said:" This is the only one of his books that has yet to be printed! "It was a lesson I had not forgotten. It is possible that Haroun and the sea of stories, Luka and the fire of life are my only books to print. And that would be good, actually.
Neil Gaiman tells a story similar to that of AA Milne, who is no longer remembered as a playwright or punch editor from the West End, but only as "the author of two short stories and two bundles of verses for young children".
It is surprising how long children's books can last. An explanation can be the way they are read.
Another explanation may be that children's books are designed to be read again. Because all children's writers are aware that our books can be read by children themselves.
"Yes, children read and reread their favorite books," says Francesca Simon. "My favorite books from Horrid Henry to sign are those that are so upset and recolored that they are practically translucent. When Simon Mayo interviewed me, he said he had read it to his children more than 200 times. He looked like a fine man ...
Gaiman, who writes for all ages, has a similar vision. "When I write for children," he says, "I always assume that a story, if loved, will be re-read. So I try to be much more aware of it than adults, only in terms of word choice. I I have already said that although I could not justify every word in the American gods, I can justify every word in Coraline. "
Many parents will already know. Sometimes they are even afraid that there will be a problem with a child who reads his favorite books instead of new ones.
"They are not abnormal," says Charlotte Hacking of the Center for Primary Literacy (CLPE). "Children need to read and reread and go back to books, look at them in different ways. It's really a good thing; it allows you to move on."
So replay is a fact for children's authors. This is one of the reasons why we try to write books on multiple levels that work on different levels, with repetition enriched each time.
Yet it is an exceptional book that already looks like a classic. Saunders takes these neglected Edwardian children with them and immerses them in the First World War. Because they belonged to the generation that would die in the trenches and work with a devastating emotional effect.
"It's a fantastic book," says Julia Eccleshare, a publisher of children's books at The Guardian. "If it was an adult book that worked with Jane Austen, people would be happy. The text game about a classic in the adult world would receive much more praise at the moment than I think was noticed."
This is perhaps not surprising, because only the winner of the Costa / Whitbread Children's Book Award has won the book title of the year. It was Philip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass in 2001.
The orange bezel
Facebook Twitter Pinterest
The Amber Spyglass Illustration: PR
"Since then it is no longer successful," says Pullman. "But one day they will have to find a book to which they have to deliver it alone. Maybe one day a children's book will receive the Booker prize. Why not? Why not an author for children who wins the Nobel Prize?"
Sarah Churchwell, one of Booker's jurors last year, wrote about the evaluation process. He says this "asks the books for something .
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