Yatterings

The Guardian books section has this interesting comment by Anne Fine, the former Children’s Laureate, on her latest book:

‘She has a duty as a writer, she added, to make the world more accessible to children by explaining it to them.

“I wanted my readers to understand how important politics are, to understand how these things reflect on all their lives, and to actually see how small decisions lead inexorably to other decisions and how quickly a nation can be cowed under the name of security.”‘

It reminds me of the China Miéville article that I posted earlier that politics do have a place in childrens literature if they help to enlighten the world rather than force a view.

If an understanding is gained then this is a good thing but if a sermon is being preached then it has no place in books. The difficulty is getting the balance.