Values and Classic
Children's Books
Values are at the heart of the discussion about the relative
merits of classic children's books. Children are often urged to read the
classics, sometimes by parents who read them when they were younger, or by
teachers keen to extend and enrich what they may perceive to be a limited
reading repertoire. Some student teachers may feel that classic texts are
superior to those of more recent popular culture, and others may fail to see
the relevance to modern readers. The National Curriculum requires that children
have access to long established children's fiction and classic poetry. What do
these texts have in common that allows them to have the accolade 'classic'
emblazoned on the front cover? And is reading them 'good for the children'?
In Why Read the Classics?
Italo Calvino proposes over a dozen possible definitions of a classic,
including:
- The classics are those books which constitute a treasured
experience for those who have read and loved them...
- The classics are books which exercise a particular influence, both
when they imprint themselves on our imagination as unforgettable, and when
they hide in the layers of memory disguised as the individual's or the
collective unconscious.
- A classic is a book which with each re-reading offers as much a
sense of discover as the first reading.
- 'Your' classic is a book to which you cannot remain indifferent,
and which helps you define yourself in relation or even in opposition to
it.
(Calvino, 2000 pp. 3-9)
Activity
Ask student teachers to draw up
lists of their personal top ten 'classic' books and then compare them with one
or two others in the group, looking for shared characteristics.
Ideally, they should read the
whole of Calvino's chapter, but if this isn't available, ask them to consider
if any of the quotations link with their own opinions.
They might compile a list of the
features of a 'classic text and compare it with the student teachers' views in
Figure 1 below.
Based on the lists they have
compiled, ask them to construct a rationale for the inclusion of classic
literature in the curriculum. Are 'the
classics' good for children?
Generally, a classic:
- is enjoyed by a variety of readers
and is popular and genuinely loved by children;
- has timeless relevance, being
enjoyed by children over generations;
- is challenging to read;
- taps into children's feelings and
emotions;
- is open to re-interpretation;
- should go beyond the here and now;
- is able to take children to another
world or aid them in their own lives;
- can be realist or fantasy;
- leaves spaces for the reader;
- is capable of being re-read with
equal or greater satisfaction;
- sparks imagination, or escapism,
inspiring the reader to think and discuss;
- is multi-layered - can be read
differently at different times by different people, always having something new
for the reader to discover;
- has a memorable heroic central
character that the reader identifies with;
- is esteemed as having literary
worth, being well-written, having language qualities or structure which are
complex, lyrical, varied and/or challenging;
- is a pleasurable part of what we
consider to be cultural heritage;
- gets readers thinking about issues
or about themselves, having some kind of lasting impact;
- reflects society's ideals or morals
at the time of writing;
- is in some way innovative, a
breakthrough; a classic need not be a book written a long time ago.
BUT ... luck, chance or commercial
interests might lead one book to be a classic and not another. A book might be
termed a classic because it:
- has been promoted by publishers' or
film producers' interests;
- has been bought by an adult because
it ought to be in some way 'good' for a child;
- connects with adults' nostalgia rather
than genuine current reading interests;
- is stamped by public approval.
Figure 1 Student teachers' views of what makes a
classic children's book.
Peter
Hunt (1994) suggests that the children's classic is different from
the adult classic in that it is always 'alive', passed down from one generation
to the next, whereas adult 'classics' may survive only to be read by academics.
Gamble and Yates point out that 'classic' children's books 'are not necessarily
those that are most admired at the time of writing' (Gamble and Yates, 2007, p.
117) They also quote Victor Watson who suggests that children know that a
classic book's popularity survives the age in which it is written. He goes on
to write: 'A characteristic of the classic children's story is its capacity to
offer from within itself new meaning and fresh emphases while retaining its
original integrity' (Watson in Gamble and Yates, 2007 ibid.). In this
way classics continue to appeal to us because they offer something which goes
beyond the here and now.
Are the classics still relevant to
children today? Liz Waterland planned a programme of introducing her class of
5-7 year old inner city children to classic literature. The books read included
unabridged versions of Winnie-the-Pooh,
Alice in Wonderland, The Wind in the Willows, The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe, A Christmas Carol, Black Beauty and The Secret Garden. The stories were read and then discussed in
relation to the children's life experiences e.g. Was Toad a goody if he kept
telling lies? In assessing the value of the experience Liz Waterland writes:
The first and greatest
value is certainly the new worlds that were opened for them and the willingness
with which they entered those worlds... Second comes the value of offering
children books in their original form and language and the demands this makes
on them. There is no doubt that their language was enriched and their
understanding of the unfamiliar deepened... Third, I value the links the children
have begun to forge with their literary roots. Books like Alice are part of a
heritage that fewer children nowadays have access to. It is important that
children should make connections when they hear people say, "He's a real
Scrooge" or "God bless us every one...".
Lastly and perhaps most satisfying of all, there is the value that
children themselves found in the books, and that led them to want to go on
exploring the worlds they had entered. Many children found copies of the book I
was reading and read along with me or at home.
(Waterland, cited in Maynard et al., 1999)
Waterland's reflections remind us that when selecting books to
read with children we should have a clear idea of the value that the texts
bring to the reading experience. However, reviewing her list of selected
classics also brings us back to the question of cultural capital. Whose
heritage do these books belong to? Are some kinds of text privileged over
others? Should picture books, television programmes and films be included in
the classic repertoire? Are children given enough access to classic texts from
other cultures including books in translation? Charles Sarland (1991) writing
in support of popular texts is critical of the imperative for children to read
canonical texts: 'when pupils reject texts it may well not be because they do
not understand them......Having understood, they then reject the text on
experiential grounds, on ideological grounds, on grounds of lack of emotional
satisfaction: because, in my shorthand, they do not find themselves in it'.
(p.101)
Having
reflected on values, childhood and literature, student teachers will be well
placed to deepen their understanding of reading response and to reflect on ways
in which teachers can intervene to support, challenge and enrich children's
reading.
