I just discovered a $0.99 Kindle download of the complete Wizard of Oz series, which I was very excited to find. I have a special love of old children’s books and The Wizard of Oz series is one of my childhood favorites. In my blog titled “Encouraging a Love of Reading,” I mention that getting your child hooked on a series is one way to help them develop a love of reading. For me, it was the Nancy Drew series. I was in the bottom reading group in first grade, but that summer I discovered Nancy Drew and when I went back to school the next year I ended up in the top reading group—all from getting hooked on the Nancy Drew series. From there I went on to The Bobbsey Twins, The Happy Hollisters, and The Hardy Boys.
When I decided to homeschool my son, I decided to do the same thing and introduce him to a children’s series. We started with The Magic Treehouse and went on to The Boxcar Children and the Animal Ark series. I also purchased as many of my old childhood favorites as I could find.
And that brings me to the other topic that I would like to cover–what has been happening through the years in the children’s book industry. Now, I haven’t done a scientific study of this, but from my personal observations it appears that in the past children’s authors made more of a point of writing books that would help develop a child’s character. Books were used as a tool to help teach good morals and habits. The heroes in children’s books were generally well-mannered and honorable.
Nowadays, the heroes of many (not all) children’s books are sarcastic, disrespectful, and not always honorable. And the adults in some of the modern children’s books aren’t much better. It seems to me that the authors of these books are forgetting that their books are providing role models for children and are teaching them how to behave. Writing for children is a sacred trust and I think many authors are forgetting this. Parents can no longer be certain that all the books in the children’s section of a library are necessarily books that they want their children reading. Like television, parents these days need to supervise what their young children are reading. Some might call this censorship. I call it good parenting. As St. Irenaeus said, “The things we learnt in childhood are part of our soul.”
After I wrote this blog, I read an excellent article by Meghan Cox Curdon titled “The Case for Good Taste in Children’s Books” which worried me even more about what is happening in children’s literature. This article is a warning call to all parents. Be aware.
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