Children`s books?

[Stefan]

Hello everyone!

This is my first thread, so please be gentle ;) .

I was very surprised to find books like "Don Quijote" or "Moby Dick" (the list can continue with Mark Twain and even a fiew titles from E.A. Poe) in the children`s section of book stores, published by prints specialised in books for children.

Do you think that is normal? I agree that it can be concidered a method to drive children to world`s classics but it ca easily backfire by making these books seem less interesting or lowering the level of understanding them properly, "not taking them seriously", so to say.

I look forward for your oppinion on this subject.
My best regards to you all.

[vili]

This is what seems to be happening to a lot of classics. Jonathan Swift and James Fenimore Cooper, for example, were not writing for children, yet their novels tend to be thought of as something for kids these days. I don't know why this exactly is the case.

But maybe it has something to do with the early 20th century modernists and their (rather successful) attempt to divide literature into something like the difference between "arts" and "entertainment". Since writers like Swift and Cooper could not really be classified as great stylists with grand messages, it probably followed that they cannot be thought of as "high" literature, either. And so we'll publish them for kids.

If someone has a better answer to this question, it would be interesting to hear.

[bazarov]

Maybe it's just an estimation of ages in which some child can understand book, although I think it's stupid.:D

[cuppajoe_9]

Moby Dick? Show me the child who can slog through Moby Dick.

Anything that chidren enjoy can reasonably be called 'children's literature', but I don't think Melville wrote anything that falls into that category.

[Idril]

How old of children are these lists for? I can't imagine a child enjoying either Moby Dick or Don Quixote. There are moments in the later that kids might get a kick out of but I really don't think it's enough to sustain their interest through out the whole book. You make them read something like that and they'll never want to read again...and I say that as someone who really enjoyed Don Quixote but I read it when I was an adult. There are many more appropriate books you can offer your kids if you want to introduce them to literature, The Hobbit, Chronicles of Narnia, even Harry Potter can introduce them to the joys of reading. It makes a lot more sense than making them read Moby Dick. :rolleyes:

[kathycf]

Hello everyone!

This is my first thread, so please be gentle ;) .

I was very surprised to find books like "Don Quijote" or "Moby Dick" (the list can continue with Mark Twain and even a fiew titles from E.A. Poe) in the children`s section of book stores, published by prints specialised in books for children.

Do you think that is normal? I agree that it can be concidered a method to drive children to world`s classics but it ca easily backfire by making these books seem less interesting or lowering the level of understanding them properly, "not taking them seriously", so to say.

I look forward for your oppinion on this subject.
My best regards to you all.
Hi Stefan, welcome to Litnet. :) Well, here is what I think:
A few works by Poe are ok for a child, but some may give a more sensitive kid nightmares...and Moby Dick? Hardly what I would recommend for a child's reading list. I think Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer would be ok for an older child to read, I don't know if a very young reader would understand. I guess that would go for most books, really. I was a very precocious reader and was allowed to take out any books I wanted from the library. I read many books but there were quite a few that I just did not understand as well then as I do now as an adult. I see what you mean about understanding. A child can be very bright, yet there will be some limitations on their cognitive development simply due to their age.

[kilted exile]

Firstly, I am going to assume that it is abridged versions in the childrens section.

Secondly, I think it needs to be remembered that the child wont be looking for any meaning to the books. They are adventure stories and great ones at that. I read Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn at about 7/8 (abridged versions) and loved them. Moby Dick, Rob Roy and Robinson Crusoe along with the legends of King Arthur were read to me of a night. They were then and still are now happy memories (some of the few) and I think any child would enjoy them.

[bazarov]

How old of children are these lists for? I can't imagine a child enjoying either Moby Dick or Don Quixote.

Spanish legend goes something like: ''If you see a child sitting on the beach laughing very loudly and holding for his stomach; he is either crazy or he is reading Don Quixote...'' Maybe that kid won't get all Don's thoughts like you would, bu he would surely enjoyed it. I've read it like a kid and I was thinking ''What a hilarious guy, fighting with lions and windmills!'' but then I had reread it couple of years ago and I was impresed: ''What a great book!''

[Stefan]

Maybe that kid won't get all Don's thoughts like you would, bu he would surely enjoyed it. I've read it like a kid and I was thinking ''What a hilarious guy, fighting with lions and windmills!'' but then I had reread it couple of years ago and I was impresed: ''What a great book!''

First of all, congratulations for rereading the book! Unfortunately, not many do that. Moast of the people I`ve known (all grown-ups) refuse to reade those books, mainly because they are inlisted in the children section. Many live big titles behind, because they think it`s below theyr dignity to read such books. And, finaly, they don`t see the picture behind "Robison Crusoe" or "Alice in wonderland" nore try to see it.
I agree with Kilted Exile when he said that those books can leave greate memories, but isn`t it a greate deservice to the author, and mature reader when no inner meaning is oserved?

[Idril]

Maybe that kid won't get all Don's thoughts like you would, bu he would surely enjoyed it.

I did acknowledge that there would be parts of that book kids would like and enjoy very much but it's not all fighting windmills. It's a very long book and there is some 'down time' in between adventures, I think a kid would have a hard time getting through those slower peices because they don't really look at the big picture, he just wants the funny man to do something ridiculous, a child isn't going to be real excited about the 20+ page book within a book and things of those nature. Of course, it depends on what age you're talking about here and if they are like Kathy and are very precocious readers, then I think it's worth a go but for your average kid, I still mantain it's a little ambitious.

[kilted exile]

I agree with Kilted Exile when he said that those books can leave greate memories, but isn`t it a greate deservice to the author, and mature reader when no inner meaning is oserved?

I dont think so. I think reading is a very personal thing and what is important is what each individual takes from the book. I dont see how someone reading a book because it is a interesting story and enjoying it on that level can possibly take away from someone who is reading it for deeper meanings and examination of literary techniques.

What difference does it make if a child reads Oliver Twist as a story instead of a condemnation of the Poor Law in the mid 1800's?