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  • Rudyard Kipling... doesn't he make cakes?

    Monday 2 May 2011

    Categories: Education, Media Influence, Parenting

    A recent article in The Daily Mail Online reported the findings of a survey which demonstrated how few children aged 8 to 12 were familiar with the literary achievements of writers such as Rudyard Kipling, Jules Verne, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, J M Barrie and Robert Louis Stevenson. It bemoaned the fact that this survey added fuel to the argument that the current generation of children has impoverished reading habits.

    As an English teacher for 30 years, no one needs to convince me of the importance, the power and the joy to be derived from reading widely. Interestingly, as a child I had a very narrow literary diet; I much preferred to read a book I had read before and knew I enjoyed rather than reading something new. I lost count of the number of times I read ‘Heidi’ ‘Black Beauty’ and ‘What Katy Did’. (I chose such books above the works of Kipling, Verne, Conan Doyle, Barrie and Stevenson, I have to say). It was only when I reached the sixth form and then during my university years (studying English) that I began to read widely, and now, as an adult, I read voraciously.

    I know many children who might not gravitate towards the ‘classics’ of the writers above, but who are enthusiastic advocates of writers such Roald Dahl and who go on to the more demanding literature of the Harry Potter books, the Northern Lights Trilogy or the Twilight series – all well-written, captivating books for younger readers. Some of them may have been stimulated to try the books having seen the films first, and I see nothing wrong with that.

    Yes, children today do spend much more time before a television or a computer screen than was the case for my generation, but they will still be encouraged to read at school and by responsible, committed and caring parents and family members. They may not be exposed to Kipling (who, the Daily Mail reminds us, was well-known for his stories of imperial India) and they may not all have heard of J M Barrie, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Robert Louis Stevenson, but I suspect a far higher proportion would have heard of The Jungle Book, Peter Pan, Sherlock Holmes and Treasure Island. They may not be able to match up characters/novels and authors – but perhaps a fair proportion of their parents would struggle to do this too!

    Posted by Jill Berry

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