AL'S MORNING BLOG 2/25/2023
Maybe you've never heard of Roald Dahl, noted British author of children's books which include the character Matilda. Like JK Rowling, another noted author and also british, there is a fire brewing. It's all about what children read. The good Bible thumper who scorned Harry Potters many books, thinking sorcery and the devil were at work, made their voices heard. Loud and clear, I might add. Much to their chagrin, the Potter series, along with accompanying movies have become a world wide super hit. Dahl, a much milder writer, writes in the style of some of my children's and my personal favorites. I loved Jack and the Beanstalk, Hansel and Gretel and the like. I loved books like the "Last of the Mohicans", "The Deer slayer". "The Corsican Brothers" and the "Tale of two cities. I lived and loved reading and consider my frail brain, to at least having been enhanced by those editions. Mr. Dahls centerpiece "Matilda" finds mystery of course in his writings. But wait a minute. Our kids shouldn't be reading that crap. WE have to do some editing and so we have. One of the mainstays in a book about eating chocolate is described as enormously fat. That has been changed to simply enormous. Cloud men are now cloud people. No one has unclothed them to find out if that is true. Kids (er: children) need a little fantasy. Kids need to be kids and not grow up at age 6 instead of their teens. Could that be part of the reasoning behind mutilating children in an attempt to change sex or whatever? I Reall hearing the phrase "poisoning of the mind" lately. I guess that has to do with the poison pen. Hey! Kids are going to grow up. Parents still do not want to tell them about the birds and the bees. They don't know how to go about it because THEIR parents faced the same predicament. I found out about life on the street corner from older kids. And yes, I am somewhat guilty of the same offense. I feel like I did somewhat of an adequate job, but not that great. We are all guilty of not giving our kids enough and maybe that's why now many of them are teaching us. Isn't that a rip? For gosh sakes, the main problem is getting them to read in the first place. Let's help them along.
