More on bleakness in children's literature.

Anne Fine wrote a brief letter to the editor at the Times -- what she says there makes SO much more sense than the earlier article suggested.  I really was having a difficult time reconciling the realism of her books with the idea of going back to Blyton.

Phew.  My world is now back in its regular orbit.

(via Lisa)

Comments

[TadMack]

Oh, good. This is reassuring. She sounds quite pissed in the letter as well, which cheers me right up. I hate how they take one sentence someone in public life says, and build a whole headline around it.

[web]

That does make far more sense, coming from the author of The Tulip Touch.

[Elizabeth]

Oh wow, that letter not only makes sense, but it raises a genuinely interesting question. (Do kids like to read about their own traumas, or the ones they're NOT experiencing?)

I would be really, really angry if I were her. That was really a hatchet job on her opinions, and it got picked up everywhere.