Children really don't need a picture-book version of On the Road

Illustrated tales introducing youngsters to ‘iconic works of classic literature’ such as Jack Kerouac’s beatnik adventure are missing the pointMy daughter is five, and all for knowing about what her parents are up to. Her father was reading The Lord of the Rings on holiday last week, and she wanted it read aloud to her. (She’d loved listening to The Hobbit and so this was duly done; she changed her mind in about a minute.) The day after, we were making a fuss about buying Harry Potter and the Cursed Child tickets, and she wanted to come along. She was told she couldn’t, as she hadn’t read the books. This seemed very unfair to her, so I began reading her Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, so she could see what she made of it. Again, she was off and away shortly after I began.­I recount these micro-anecdotes not to show the short attention span of my child, but because they came to mind when I read of a new initiative launching in the US: KinderGuides. Pitched as “a series of illustrated children’s books that introduce some of the most iconic works of classic literature to young readers”, the books covered in the launch series include On the Road and The Old Man and the Sea, with future titles to include The Alchemist and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2016-08-26 00:00:00 UTC ]

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