BOOKS FOR CHILDREN

Taupo Times, Volume I, Issue 34, 3 September 1952, Page 4

BOOKS FOR CHILDREN

THOSE who listened in to the talk on books foi' children which was broadcast by the Minister of Education last Sunday week wilhprobably agree that Mr Algie flavoured his scmewhat controversial subject with sound commonsense. He reminded his adult listeners of the Victorian g'eneration of the days of the "penny dreadfuls," and their popular hero, Deadwood Dick, and very sensibly roma rked that it is better that children should learii to discriminate between good books and inferior rubbish, than imposing a ban on a class of literar ture that because it has been forbidden acquires the flavour of stolen fruit, to be devoured in secret. The line must be drawn somewhere, of course. Reading that is potently, blatantly anwholesome should, it is contended, be stopped at its source, but that is easier said than done. If you establish a eensorship, as in the cinema, the standard set up is sure to be criticised — by some as too strict, by others as too lax. The public taste in literature, plays, music, in clothes even, is a variable quantity. It is in a constant state of flux from one generation to another. The appearance on one of our beaches today of a girl clad in Victorian bathing costume would be greeted with shrieks of laughter. Conversely, if a modern miss clad in the very latest in swim-suits were to be transported back through the years to a. Victorian beach where neck-to-ankle costume was vigorously decreed, shc would be cast into prison. Other times, other manners. It would be an interesting test of the average boy's powers of discrimination to present him with "Tom Sawyer," "Two-Gun Mollcy," and Ehic, or Little-by-Little," and ask for his opinion of them. The point about this selection it that one was written for Victorians, one to satisfy a demand that may decline, and one is literature, realistic literature of the best kind. How would he react ? Mr Algie's counsel, to be tolerant, to wait patiently until trained powers of discrimination enable the young reader to reject the trash, is sensible, like the advice in the nur-

sery rhyme to Little Bo-peep, who lost her sheep: "Leave them alonef and theydl all come home, wagging their tails behind them.,, Among adult reader s the detective story has achieved a widespread vogue in recent years. Even elderly gentlemen highly placed in the leamed profession, public administration, the judiciary, and Government have gone on record as confessing to a liking for a good detective story as an enjoyable form of relaxatior, And why not ? Very well them There is now coming onto the market for juvenile reading the junior detective story. What have their elders to say about that ? If they take Mr Algie's advice, they will say nothing.