Hurin Marketed As Book For Kids

[Lalwendë]

I've been trying to think of somewhere to bung this article by AN Wilson about why kids need to read proper, old fashioned fairy stories - which is a rather good article as always - so this seems as good a thread as any!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/ar...dren-want.html

Basically a survey had been done in the UK and it seems growing numbers of parents don't want to disturb their kiddies with scary fairy stories so they instead read them nice stuff at bedtime. To be honest - if I had to choose between having to get up every five minutes because the nipper had seen wolves behind the curtains and reading him Winnie the Pooh at bedtime, I'd go for Winnie. But to eradicate fairy stories altogether is just wrong!

Fairy stories are superb!

I did have to laugh at this quote though:

Some 3,000 British parents have been surveyed, revealing that more than a quarter of mothers now reject fairy stories in favour of books such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.

I have nothing against that tale, which is a good preparation for life in the food-obsessed Britain of Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver.

It is a charming book, in which readers are invited to open flaps and see that the caterpillar has consumed a list of sensible fruit and vegetables.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is very good, but it does seem that we have endless things now which are all pious and instructional about star jumps and eating broccoli and learning about world festivals (in the UK you can now be condemned as a racist if your toddler is found not to like curry!). If I had to choose between watching some Disney nonsense about fairy princesses and the worst children's programme ever, namely Lazy Town which makes me feel like sending that fella in blue some Beta Blockers, give me the fairies anyday