to feel uneasy about my son reading Enid Blyton books

who me? are you

are you apologising?

this is moving way to fast for me.

Sorry I should have added - it's flippin marvellous that he wants to read anything - encourage it.

'Chinky' is an ELF ! a fucking fantasy creature (whispers .......it's not real)

NOT Chinese! It's only our stupid adult middle class pc bollocks thats reading something into this !!!!

and fairies with wings on their backs - it's not a comment on disabled people with humps !!

For fucks sake I've heard everything now

Banning books is wrong in hte general sense of the idea.

But in the case of a school library surely it is more that you can only hold a certain number of books so you choose the best (in your opinion) for the children. Therefore you leave out the ones you don't agree with to make space for those you do.

Also we already censure the information available to children. There are restrictions on what you can put on children's television for example, and the watershed. Films have ratings. WE choose both as a society and individuals what we feel is appropriate for children.

Not putting these books in school libraries is not the same as burning all the copies and making it an offence to own one.

Oh God shoot me now

And I didnt way you would object to MIcheal Morpurgo.

Let him read it - but introduce other books you consider more appropriate. Sounds like he is just keen to have stories.

Sorry Twinkle.

Why are the books badlywritten? Aside from PC issues? Well these are the reasons I can think of:-

(a) They are formulaic. There were five in the famous five but EB famously only had three plots. An adult analogy would be Mills & Boon or Barbara Cartland with their scripted plotlines.

(b) The storylines are strictly linear. So the text only moves in one direction. Most books that stretch and develop children go forwards and backwards.

(c) The language and vocabulary is very limited. Think of the Sun. That is deliberatly written for a reading age of around 10. EB has a very limited vocabulary for children. Her sentences are very short and snipped which limits children's language development.

I could go on like this for pages but there are some essays on this. Have a look at the Wiki entry on EB, it points you to some stuff as to how EB is crap.

fuck

I wasn't calling you a nerd

Taxi

If we start withdrawing books that contain phrases or concepts that may cause offence to different people then we'd have empty libraries. how depressing

No I didn't awen. I said imagine the scenario. I imagined my child doing it. I would feel uncomfortable therefore I wouldn't want them to read the book. I was not saying your, or anyone's child specifically would do that. A child could do that

i think the fact your child is enjoying reading through the magic of this book is the important thing.

i think if at some point he were to remark "chinky" inappropriatley you would be the first to explain to him.

and if un pc behaviour continued - i tink it less likley to be down to a book he loved and more down to parenting or lack of - in a wider context you understand.

"But I was not being serious about calling social services on parents forcefeeding children fruitshoots. Either of the drinking or of the Enid Blyton variety."

"I think anyone with a trace of anything that might be called PC are total serious humour-bypassed nerds, quattro."

Oh I see what I have inadvertently done - har! That thing I said was backing up your point quattro, that the fruitshoot thing was just a jokey thing. I was calling you a nerd

har

I canot keep up

Funny thing is ds hasnt read an Enid Blyton book. But I guess what I am saying is that he might.

You implied my ds would point at a stranger in the street and call them chinky - which I find offensive. Didnt get nasty tho did i?

Yes, I love children's books - probably the main reason I had childen, as cover for buying children's books. I am "force feeding" my children Anne Fine at the moment, and waiting until they are old enough to read Dyanna Wynne Jones. Personally reading Garth Nix. EB would not get any shelf space in this household!

Hey Quatro, didn't think you were being particularly crass or anything. But the idea of libraries banning books, esp. for children, makes me very uneasy.

hang on. The people I thought I was agreing with on some level now seem to be rounding on me. Wat's going on?

WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?

So how far does "a trace of PC" go then? Does that mean that so long as abuse of any group is funny it's OK? Little Black Sambo for example?

Ooh pointydog is squaring up for a fight.

Well I won't have it. You you fruitshoot reader you.

Why QC? Why? WHY?

errrr. you implied that me or quattro banned books and might have a good readon for slating morpurgo. Which was a ridiculous implication. SO ridiculous that I replied ironically that I do all of those thiongs.

crikey, I am on wine you kow, it is very hard for me to justify things twenty mins agter i hvae posted

And I recognise a fellow bookie in nookie