the other news? Or perhaps the good news is the other news as far as the rest of you are concerned? Yes, the computer appears to be up and running again. Mind you there were the usual muttered cursings from my long suffering BIL. I can hardly blame him. He works for an internet company. He knows about the big stuff as well as the little stuff. He does fancy things with the computer that I know nothing about. There are all sorts of fancy little things that appear when he starts to play on the keys.
I did not like trying to use the lap top. I kept hitting the wrong keys - most frustrating. I felt the way I did when I was first learning to type. It is, I understand, a very old lap top - or perhaps I really am getting old. Ms Whirlwind (age 10) eyed me up and down the other day and then said kindly, "I don't think you are old yet. You will be old when you don't like to read what I like to read." We both like to read picture books so perhaps there is some hope for me yet. Come to thnk of it Dad will read a new picture book and he is almost 87 years young.
I am wondering about this age thing and books. I am wondering about choice of books and the young too. I remember when we thought Jill Paton Walsh's "The Dolphin Crossing" might be too realistic for some children to handle. It is not even on library shelves now. It is regarded as too old fashioned. War books now should be about Iraq or Afghanistan, refugees and boat people. The message is being lost because of the images on television screens. Children, or some children, are becoming immune. No doubt there will shortly be a rush - or should that be 'rash'? - of books about climate change, Copenhagen, how the London Olympics will emit so much carbon pollution and how a family took a holiday at home in order to reduce their carbon footprint. People will write these things. Publishers will publish them. The books will receive accolades and prizes. People will buy them in the belief that this is what literature for children should be about. Perhaps it is but it should be about all of the rest of life as well. An elderly neighbour has asked me to help with Christmas books for his grandchildren. "Do you think we can find something funny instead of all this doom and gloom Cat?" We can certainly try.
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4 comments:
Cat,
Been there and done that for this Christmas ...... and there is lot's of fun out there! I haven't wrapped the books yet because I haven't finished reading them, picture books and all!
Judy B
Oh, you read them first do you? I found the most delightful picture book about a cat's first day at school - absolutely purrfect - and I was tempted to keep it for myself!
and children still like Mary Poppins and Mr Poppers Penguins and Half Magic.
Not much for doom and gloom, perhaps not picture books, but there are classics with illustrations that I still give, such as Wind in the Willows.
Oh yes, my godchildren have Winnie the Pooh and Wind in the Willows and various other classics from Yours Truly! My parents got in first when it came to the next generation....a lot of kids now don't know the joys of When we were very young and Now we are six. It's sad!
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