to feel uneasy about my son reading Enid Blyton books

[frances5]

My son wants me to read him a book called the "Wishing Chair", I have read two chapters of it and it has a pixie in it called "Chinky". To make it worst the drawing of "Chinky" shows an elf like creature with slitted eyes. However I think my son is totally and utter oblivous to this.

Admitally Enid Blyton lived 50 years ago when people didn't know better. But do you think I am making a mistake letting my son enjoy this book? He is even trying to read it himself that he is so desperate to know what happens next.

When my son chose this book I had no idea that it had a pixie in it called "Chinky" other wise I would have diverted him towards something like Ronald Dahl.

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!

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?

"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

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.

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

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

fuck

I wasn't calling you a nerd

Taxi

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.

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

And I didnt way you would object to MIcheal Morpurgo.

Oh God shoot me 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.

'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

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

this is moving way to fast for me.

are you apologising?

who me? are you

Pointy, you are right. It's taxi time. Did not realise I was going to have to start doing a lit crit of EB after a drinks party. Snot fair

Thanks QC. I genuinely am interested. I would never advocate that kids only read EB or anything like that, but I do think they have their place. For one thing, we can't be stretching them all the time can we? And I'd much rather DS (who is only 10 months btw) sat and read an EB book than sat watching some crap on TV. And I will find some of those links (but I hope they don't put me off EB too much because I really did like her books when I was little).

Incidentally, I had a reading age far beyond my years for many years. I put a lot of that down to being captivated by EB from the age of 3 or 4.

that was to awen not dillo

har

But as libraries have limited space shouldn't they carry books that are good? There are plenty of good books that don't have dodgy messages. I wouldn't expect to see EB much in a modern library anyway, just because they are dated (and I still say crap). Re editing of books seems a pretty weird idea to me - more in line with censorship than any concept of "banning". Still there are so many of them (and that's one reason why they are not up to much) that I guess they must still make a fair bit of cash for the publishers. For me they are in the same sort of category as things like the Baby Sitter's Club, or all those awful fairies books, all written by numbers.

Zooey - refuse to shoot someone looking after endangered animals.

And another thing! EB is appealing IMO to young readrs becuase it concentrates on plot and is easy to read so they get quick wins and want to read on. They are so few books that fit that bill.

Good Freudian slip there, Armadillo, censure for censor.