Kiddie Lit

Kirstini kirst_inn at yahoo.co.uk
Thu Jul 10 17:12:11 UTC 2003


Mary Ann> Yes, a good laugh, and a good groan!  I came across the 
Famous Five books when I was about 10 and living in Monreal, and I 
loved them.  
<snip> I recently reread one of the books (they live in my 
daughter's bookcase; yes, I kept them) and they are *so* awful!>

Me (Kirstini): The Famous Five books were all rewritten after a 
while (I'd imagine it would be sometime in the late70s-80s). I used 
to spend weekends with my gran at car boot sales and fairs, and I 
picked up several second or third-hand Five books with my pocket 
money. Enid Blyton was abit of an illicit pleasure for me, as my mum 
refused to let me read them at first, only giving in when a school 
friend gave me some Secret Seven books for a birthday. Finding them 
recently when clearing out my mum's old house, I came across this 
particular gem:
"George's face was so blackened with soot that she looked like a 
little nigger boy." 
I don't think I knew what this meant at the time, but I'd always 
wondered why my mum didn't approve of me reading them... 
 
Mary Ann, again:>I'm glad I kept these books because none of my 
> contemporaries in England have heard of Blume.> 

You're joking! Judy Blume and Paula Danziger (the two sort of go 
together in my mind) were the favourite reads of my P6 and 7 (ten, 
eleven, twelve) classes. Both of them used to come over here in the 
summer to read at the Edinburgh Book Festival, and Paula Danziger 
had a slot on the BBC's Saturday morning children's programme for a 
while. Those ones were definately approved of.
Kirstini





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