11/19/07

Adults across the pond revisiting children's books

Here's a link to a bbc article about adults re-reading children's books, and the boom in nostalgia publishing. It touches on the tricky issue of bringing to children's attention books that embody racist or otherwise hurtful ideas that (one hopes) are not going to be with us forever. I'm a bit wishy washy on this one--as a social historian, cleansing the past (by re-writing books) is a repellent idea, but as a mother, reading out loud to my own kids, I do often alter the text so as to make it less racist, sexist, or just more inclusive...oh well. Doubtless there will still be plenty of really repellent stuff for them to read when they are ready to leave the family sofa. But I'm not going to buy them Tintin in the Congo.

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