ext_36709 ([identity profile] steepholm.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] steepholm 2014-03-24 12:43 pm (UTC)

I like the analogy of tree rings.

Here, read the whole essay. It's not long, and I feel sure you'll enjoy it.

I think I can't count games played with children, because your pleasure in giving pleasure to them is likely to cause all kinds of interference with your pleasure in the game itself. Can I seriously ask that you try to seek out some like-minded adults (wherever they're hiding) and have a game of hide-and-seek with them? I'd be fascinated to know the result. If we lived closer I'd volunteer myself.

You make a good point re. Blyton - at least with the Famous Five. On the other hand, I often do an ice-breaking exercise with my students at the beginning of the year, which involves asking them to say a little about a book that meant a lot to them in childhood. Almost always one or more of them will say The Magic Faraway Tree - it comes up as often as any other single book. That kind of emotional stickability is one reasonable test of "a good children's book", I think.

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