I seem to remember you mentioning that your 9 year old had read the HP series? Although it’s fantasy, there’s plenty of bigotry, etc in there so she will have encountered many of the things you mention here, albeit under the more comfortable reading blanket of fantasy and generally bad things portrayed as bad things.
I’m personally not a fan of revising an author’s works in any way (that I can think of). It makes me nervous to try to force literature into being a modern morality tale. Where do we draw the line with changes? Who gets to decide? What criteria are used? And who establishes them on what bases? Should we do the same with other forms of art? [It strikes me that deep underneath these conversations about books are the same questions about home education and even the state’s role in investigating parents for no apparent reason. Where do we draw the line, who decides and how, on what bases? Are parents the ones who are responsible, ultimately, for their children, except in immediately extreme cases, or is there a generally more competent authority than the parents in most cases?]
Better, I think, to let parents decide for their children if it’s a good thing to read in their particular circumstances. (For instance I wouldn’t edit Huck Finn, but I’d make sure the children I gave it to were ready for some nuanced conversations.)
As you point out, it’s important to discuss these things and present them in an age-appropriate way, but (sadly) most kids are exposed to things much earlier than most parents expect… I think it can also be helpful to pair up readings- for example if anti-semitism is a concern, why not pair with the All of A Kind Family books, which were written from the perspective of and give lovely insight into the life of a Jewish family?
It’s not so much that she hasn’t encountered bigotry before - of course, this is something we talk about openly, and as you say it’s often introduced in modern children’s books. And I completely agree that ideally parents should decide for their child if a book is appropriate at a given moment, not some distant board of approved people who get to rule on what’s right or wrong.
Part of the issue here, for me, is that Nesbit’s books are about currant buns for tea, and children who inadvertently bring the ceiling down when they absentmindedly block the drainpipe with a cricket ball they borrowed from their brother. Nobody is buying these books expecting them to feature the N word, even if they get as far as expecting them to reflect outdated Edwardian attitudes - which many won’t. So whereas I can, and do, make informed decisions that a particular book is or isn’t appropriate right now, unless I’m screen reading everything (which I and most parents don’t), I’m not making an informed decision in this specific case. I think I’m buying a charming children’s classic about a magical castle!
And I’m with you that we shouldn’t try to shoehorn old books into modern morality tales, but I don’t think removing the N word, which is of no importance to the story at all, is really doing that. It doesn’t change the story, it doesn’t change the moral, or try to create one, it just removes a word that we have all collectively agreed is unacceptable.
I don’t think I disagree in general, but my concern is that while we all agree the n word is unacceptable, there are plenty of words (like “fat”) which can be seriously debated, and other words (I’m trying to think of one off the top of my head and failing) which others might reject but I might accept, or vice versa- and the principle of being able to erase them without the author’s approval seems really problematic. I guess my question is still who decides and how, if not the author himself or herself?
Should publishers have the right to alter the words of an author without his/ permission? {Even for a good reason!}Should authors have to agree to this explicitly when they agree to be published? And how does this apply to other art forms?
I don't censor anything. I talk to my kids about the prejudices that come up in old books, among other things, even though it can be difficult and even though I wish I didn't have to. I would rather discuss it with them openly, outright, than have them encounter any of it on their own and think it's okay.
9yo is young, but there are countless BIPOC children who don't have the luxury of avoiding these topics until they're older because they're encountering and living with them every day. And it's part of my responsibility in raising good humans to help mine understand hate and ugliness so they may have the courage to fight against it, which doesn't preclude using their privilege if it helps others.
I totally agree that I’d rather my children learn about this stuff from me than have it thrust upon them when they’re unprepared. And of course we talk about prejudice openly and regularly. But reading the N word in an otherwise delightful children’s book feels very different. I’m amazed the publishers haven’t removed it from recent editions. I shall continue to debate this with myself, and with Henry. The line between informing our children about the world and sheltering them from what they’re not yet ready for is a very fine one to tread.
I guess I don't think of it as censorship per se? I think of the necessary conversation as an intrusion into the reading experience--I'd rather have both the reading experience and the conversation each on their own terms, not necessarily together, because I don't think I'd be able to do anything /other/ than stop in the moment to address the n word if I were to encounter it in a children's book.
We just finished reading aloud Five Children and It which both my daughter and I enjoyed. We also just listened to the audio of Tom Sawyer which has the n word and when we get to that point I teach her about why it’s wrong and what that time was like. But I don’t cut out books or forbid reading based on what is considered racist today and I personally wouldn’t support republishing censored books. We have also listened to nearly all of Dahls books and we have enjoyed that too. When we read classics I don’t pre screen, I just teach as we go along and Im glad to get the chance to do that in our home before she goes out into the world. During my many years homeschooling, this has also been the approach in our local community.
When rereading as an adult some of my favourite children's books from the early to mid-twentieth century, I was struck by how the n-word would be used casually in narration as part of a comparative phrase, usually to denote blackness or working hard. In these cases, I think modern editions would be better to remove it, perhaps with an editorial note at the end, as it adds very little and in this context doesn't particularly lend itself to a discussion on racial prejudice.
Finding these moments in otherwise enjoyable children's books (I'm thinking of Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series, and Forest's Marlows series), would make me think twice before recommending them to parents. For white families, perhaps a simple explanation to the children that it is an old word which is now offensive, and they shouldn't use it, could be sufficient, but for families and children of different ethnicities, it could be more complicated. Saying 'This book is excellent but watch out for the slur on page x' feels like giving too much weight to the word, but coming across it by surprise could be extremely unpleasant, depending on the family's own experiences of racism, but also confusing and alienating.
I must note here that I am white and British (the censorship conversation seems somewhat less fraught here in Europe at the moment than in the US) so this is informing my perspective, and I would be interested in perspectives from Black readers and parents.
I do agree with the commenters who suggest reading the books to children as they are, but with commentary and conversation. I was very fortunate in that as a child I had very present adults in my life who always took an interest in what I was reading and so even when I was mostly reading independently, I was having lots of discussions about plots, characters and attitudes with my parents. However, this is not the case for everyone, so when slurs appear in books marketed at children, we cannot assume that the readers will be benefitting from nuanced conversation with an adult who can provide appropriate context.
Thanks for taking the time to comment Carys, I heartily agree with all this. Also had no idea the word appeared in Swallows and Amazons so that’s good to know. I agree that what we’re missing here, as far as I know, is a perspective from any Black families on how they approach the question, which is a serious blind spot given the subject matter!
We are currently reading The Railway Children and my boys (7&5, the 2 year old is just along for the ride) are loving it much more than I would anticipate. It’s a good reminder to me to not shy away from older books with more difficult language, because they are capable of understanding far more than I would expect, and the bits that are challenging make for great conversation. Also, they were enthralled at the idea of the paper chase (a game I’d never heard of an imagine is either a British thing or a turn-of-the-twentieth-century thing or both) and want to do one with their friends…sadly, we have no train tunnels (ha) or miles of fields for them to run in, but I think we can still figure out a way to make it happen.
As far as E Nesbit’s other books go, I appreciate the caution about the unsavory bits and will stick to reading these aloud vs giving them to my kids to read on their own. That has been my strategy with the Little House books as well, because racism is a major theme in several of the books.
As a child much of the reading I did was on my own. I was reading some complex books fairly early. I have a vague memory of reading the N word in a book long before I had any concept of it being something bad. I even think I may have used it out loud not knowing the implications. I would be much less worried about encountering the N word in a book I am reading out loud to my daughter because then I could explain. I would find it rather challenging if she encountered the N word for the first time completely unbeknownst to me.
Classics are my go-to read alouds. The kids can read whatever fluff they like independently, but if I'm reading, I'm reading the good stuff. We just finished The Secret Garden and the word 'fat' came up over and over. Hodgson Burnett uses it non-offensively though, the characters want to be fat or fattened up, and as such I had no problem with the word constantly cropping up.
I think a lot of what we see as red flags just flies over our children’s heads although I felt like you do with some of that kind of language. When I read older books aloud I would skip over some of it with the younger ones or point out that a certain word used to be used but we don’t use it now.
When you have children that are good readers you want to let them loose with quality literature and sooner or later, unless you want to drastically cull everything they read, they will come across objectional slurs or words. I suppose the question is when…
Kids will pick up our attitudes & language on these issues.
One of your commentors mentioned C.S. Lewis’ thoughts on chronological snobbery & I often think of what he said when we try to sanitise the past. We all have our blindspots & I sometimes wonder what future generations will say of us when they look back.
There are modern books that are more subtle but are objectionable in other ways & I was honestly more concerned with those.
I remember The Otterbury Incident from when I was little! A classic! And yes I even remember reading the bit about sex appeal from when I was 8/9 and thinking, hmmm.
As for books with outdated views, Rosie has enjoyed everything by E. Nesbit but I find her attention dwells better with novels with more modern themes -- the Vanderbeekers and Chrestomanci novels most recently, and currently the Wrinkle In Time series.
I do trust in her curiosity to open up conversations with me about jarring words and concepts, because the questions do arise and I'm careful to place them into context. Whilst I am selective about the novels she reads (I bought her a Kindle for that purpose) I tend to encourage classical reads for the richness of language and sense of history they evoke, even if that involves outdated and uninclusive perspectives.
I find this in my own reading, also. I re-read The Bell Jar for the first time since adolescence a few years ago, and was struck by the pervasiveness of racial profiling. It unsettled me, for sure, but still doesn't diminish Plath's brilliance - just another insight into the perspective of those times.
Thanks so much for providing rich food for thought, Catherine!
For those of you who have the honest conversations with your children about why these words or stereotypes are inappropriate can anyone give me an example of what that conversation looks like? I’m just looking for a guide to go by and sometimes hearing ideas of how it’s done in your home helps me tailor to suit me. I didn’t have healthy communication meddled to me so trying to do it different as I raise my son even if it feels uncomfortable.
I want you to know, Catherine, that I respect your opinion—and isn’t it great you (and me) can freely voice that, at least for the moment, in America. And I will very respectfully disagree about censorship of any kind. I am in full favor of parents and other adults who care about kids, knowing about the books our children are reading—I’m in more favor of reading those books together or at least always talking about what we’re reading, the context in which the author wrote it, the themes therein, and the language used. I’m against censorship of all kinds for a number of reasons—the main one being “who gets to choose what to censor? And why?” It IS a slippery slope best avoided by not going down it. As a parent, you have the right to limit what your child reads or is exposed to (to the degree you can—but you should keep in mind the nature of human nature, especially adolescent nature when they are told they cannot do something….if you get my drift). You also have the right as a parent to TRUST what you are teaching them and that your teaching will stand them in good stead when they are challenged or away from you. I sometimes chuckle at parents who use the thin rationale: “Yes, of course we teach them our own values and morals, but I worry about them when they aren’t under my direct supervision.” Well, if you taught them, and taught them well, and have the kind of relationship with them where they can come to you with questions, and you can go to them with questions, and engage in honest and loving conversations, then WHY WORRY? Better to have that kind of relationship than to helicopter parent them by taking away from them anything that might be offensive (you would be a VERY busy, and nosey, parent!). Our children are going to be exposed to things we don’t like—that’s a guarantee. Better to start them early with a mature way of discussing those sensitive things with an adult that they know loves and respects them.
Simply put, again respectfully, I don’t want you or anyone else censoring what an author wrote, and that I may want to read even to my own children, that appeases your values but keeps me from having a great conversation with my children. Censorship is a form of revisionist history. And that should never, ever, be okay.
Oof, that A&E story was a hard read. I’m sure that was truly awful to experience for your reader. We’ve been questioned, albeit mildly, while visiting A&E when my son had low blood sugar from a stomach bug but not had to deal with children’s services.
However… we had to do a wellbeing check recently after the team who did my son’s autism assessment decided he hadn’t “been seen” by any professionals for years. (He had.) It went round and round for a while as no one knew who exactly was responsible for doing this wellbeing check. In the end, it ended up being with our GP who was really positive but pressed on us that changes are coming that will make it more difficult to home ed. It’s really put me on edge as to what the {between the lines}/long-term vision of the wellbeing and schools bill actually is.
Thanks for taking the time to share that Hayley. Great news that your GP was so positive and thank goodness you ended up being seen by someone sensible, but how depressing about what they said is coming. I can only hope they’re wrong!
I feel like I have many conflicting feelings on this topic. Most classics in this house are read alouds and therefore I am there to add a little context. There’s a fine line however (which I’m still trying to find!) between continually interjecting and also realising that no literature is perfect - sometimes if something is particularly brutal (the n word we have not come across!) we will discuss why the author wrote it and why it’s harmful. After reading lots of ´old’ books both kids are used to my standard disclaimer of ‘this is an old book so remember there will be lots of stereotypes that are not ok’ and oftentimes they point these out themselves. I don’t like the *idea* of censoring (you only have to look at book bans to see where it often goes wrong) - but I do understand your point of a reader coming across this independently - does one word being changed count? I don’t know where I stand here. Do children filter out the content themselves when reading? Maybe they do. I’m pretty sure I absorbed my whole child and teen library as a child but I’d argue I didn’t really *understand* most of them - just like children don’t bat an eye at certain song lyrics when they are too far over their heads. I’d like to think that the more we talk about these topics in real life that they would learn to see these problematic parts of literature themselves as they grow. I do not however expect this of them at 7 and 9 so I will continue to haphazardly attempt muddle through.
Now my daughter is older I don’t get to read aloud to her as much as I’d like, so often the books I do read aloud are the classics she wouldn’t choose herself. We’ve loved The Railway Children, A Christmas Carol, and The Secret Garden, and we’re currently reading Wind in the Willows (which I adore though some of it hasn’t aged well).
Agree that while there’s lots of scope for discussing harmful portrayals, stereotypes, and language and unpacking the historic context, I would not expect or want my daughter to come across a book published in 2017 (!) with the ‘n’ word, particularly if there is no disclaimer or warning.
My husband is Jewish and still chose to read her Roald Dahl books when she was younger, though we also openly talked to her about how antisemitic he was and highlighted / edited some of the more horrid language.
I try and mix up classics with modern children’s books, although we’re reading fewer classics these days. As much as my son enjoyed The Secret Garden, because we live in Yorkshire, there is a lot of problematic content in there that we discussed rather than hiding. Ella Risbridger wrote a very good accompanying novel a few years ago called The Secret Detectives that has a better look a Britain and India (and Nush and the Stolen Emerald by Jasbinder Bilan takes it even further).
I know people adore the classics and for good reason, but there are so many good books being written for children and young people today that better reflect their worlds or look at historical events more inclusively (Safiyyah’s War by Hines Noor Khan taught us about the role of the Muslim community helping to protect Jewish people in Paris is WW2) that we need to promote more, it’s my mission at work in the library!
I like this perspective a lot, and so agree that there are wonderful books being published today. We were looking at The City of Stolen Magic the other day (set in India, 1885) which sounds like a good fit alongside the books you mention.
I'm new to Substack, but my account and our software are about children's literacy. We have about 6.5k followers on TikTok. Most of our customers are homeschoolers, though we're not only for homeschoolers. My good friend Rachael (2nd generation homeschooler and mom of 5) has a great new Substack account: https://substack.com/@deardiarythenewsletter She has about 12k followers on TikTok.
I seem to remember you mentioning that your 9 year old had read the HP series? Although it’s fantasy, there’s plenty of bigotry, etc in there so she will have encountered many of the things you mention here, albeit under the more comfortable reading blanket of fantasy and generally bad things portrayed as bad things.
I’m personally not a fan of revising an author’s works in any way (that I can think of). It makes me nervous to try to force literature into being a modern morality tale. Where do we draw the line with changes? Who gets to decide? What criteria are used? And who establishes them on what bases? Should we do the same with other forms of art? [It strikes me that deep underneath these conversations about books are the same questions about home education and even the state’s role in investigating parents for no apparent reason. Where do we draw the line, who decides and how, on what bases? Are parents the ones who are responsible, ultimately, for their children, except in immediately extreme cases, or is there a generally more competent authority than the parents in most cases?]
Better, I think, to let parents decide for their children if it’s a good thing to read in their particular circumstances. (For instance I wouldn’t edit Huck Finn, but I’d make sure the children I gave it to were ready for some nuanced conversations.)
As you point out, it’s important to discuss these things and present them in an age-appropriate way, but (sadly) most kids are exposed to things much earlier than most parents expect… I think it can also be helpful to pair up readings- for example if anti-semitism is a concern, why not pair with the All of A Kind Family books, which were written from the perspective of and give lovely insight into the life of a Jewish family?
It’s not so much that she hasn’t encountered bigotry before - of course, this is something we talk about openly, and as you say it’s often introduced in modern children’s books. And I completely agree that ideally parents should decide for their child if a book is appropriate at a given moment, not some distant board of approved people who get to rule on what’s right or wrong.
Part of the issue here, for me, is that Nesbit’s books are about currant buns for tea, and children who inadvertently bring the ceiling down when they absentmindedly block the drainpipe with a cricket ball they borrowed from their brother. Nobody is buying these books expecting them to feature the N word, even if they get as far as expecting them to reflect outdated Edwardian attitudes - which many won’t. So whereas I can, and do, make informed decisions that a particular book is or isn’t appropriate right now, unless I’m screen reading everything (which I and most parents don’t), I’m not making an informed decision in this specific case. I think I’m buying a charming children’s classic about a magical castle!
And I’m with you that we shouldn’t try to shoehorn old books into modern morality tales, but I don’t think removing the N word, which is of no importance to the story at all, is really doing that. It doesn’t change the story, it doesn’t change the moral, or try to create one, it just removes a word that we have all collectively agreed is unacceptable.
I don’t think I disagree in general, but my concern is that while we all agree the n word is unacceptable, there are plenty of words (like “fat”) which can be seriously debated, and other words (I’m trying to think of one off the top of my head and failing) which others might reject but I might accept, or vice versa- and the principle of being able to erase them without the author’s approval seems really problematic. I guess my question is still who decides and how, if not the author himself or herself?
Should publishers have the right to alter the words of an author without his/ permission? {Even for a good reason!}Should authors have to agree to this explicitly when they agree to be published? And how does this apply to other art forms?
I don't censor anything. I talk to my kids about the prejudices that come up in old books, among other things, even though it can be difficult and even though I wish I didn't have to. I would rather discuss it with them openly, outright, than have them encounter any of it on their own and think it's okay.
9yo is young, but there are countless BIPOC children who don't have the luxury of avoiding these topics until they're older because they're encountering and living with them every day. And it's part of my responsibility in raising good humans to help mine understand hate and ugliness so they may have the courage to fight against it, which doesn't preclude using their privilege if it helps others.
I totally agree that I’d rather my children learn about this stuff from me than have it thrust upon them when they’re unprepared. And of course we talk about prejudice openly and regularly. But reading the N word in an otherwise delightful children’s book feels very different. I’m amazed the publishers haven’t removed it from recent editions. I shall continue to debate this with myself, and with Henry. The line between informing our children about the world and sheltering them from what they’re not yet ready for is a very fine one to tread.
I guess I don't think of it as censorship per se? I think of the necessary conversation as an intrusion into the reading experience--I'd rather have both the reading experience and the conversation each on their own terms, not necessarily together, because I don't think I'd be able to do anything /other/ than stop in the moment to address the n word if I were to encounter it in a children's book.
We just finished reading aloud Five Children and It which both my daughter and I enjoyed. We also just listened to the audio of Tom Sawyer which has the n word and when we get to that point I teach her about why it’s wrong and what that time was like. But I don’t cut out books or forbid reading based on what is considered racist today and I personally wouldn’t support republishing censored books. We have also listened to nearly all of Dahls books and we have enjoyed that too. When we read classics I don’t pre screen, I just teach as we go along and Im glad to get the chance to do that in our home before she goes out into the world. During my many years homeschooling, this has also been the approach in our local community.
When rereading as an adult some of my favourite children's books from the early to mid-twentieth century, I was struck by how the n-word would be used casually in narration as part of a comparative phrase, usually to denote blackness or working hard. In these cases, I think modern editions would be better to remove it, perhaps with an editorial note at the end, as it adds very little and in this context doesn't particularly lend itself to a discussion on racial prejudice.
Finding these moments in otherwise enjoyable children's books (I'm thinking of Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series, and Forest's Marlows series), would make me think twice before recommending them to parents. For white families, perhaps a simple explanation to the children that it is an old word which is now offensive, and they shouldn't use it, could be sufficient, but for families and children of different ethnicities, it could be more complicated. Saying 'This book is excellent but watch out for the slur on page x' feels like giving too much weight to the word, but coming across it by surprise could be extremely unpleasant, depending on the family's own experiences of racism, but also confusing and alienating.
I must note here that I am white and British (the censorship conversation seems somewhat less fraught here in Europe at the moment than in the US) so this is informing my perspective, and I would be interested in perspectives from Black readers and parents.
I do agree with the commenters who suggest reading the books to children as they are, but with commentary and conversation. I was very fortunate in that as a child I had very present adults in my life who always took an interest in what I was reading and so even when I was mostly reading independently, I was having lots of discussions about plots, characters and attitudes with my parents. However, this is not the case for everyone, so when slurs appear in books marketed at children, we cannot assume that the readers will be benefitting from nuanced conversation with an adult who can provide appropriate context.
Thanks for taking the time to comment Carys, I heartily agree with all this. Also had no idea the word appeared in Swallows and Amazons so that’s good to know. I agree that what we’re missing here, as far as I know, is a perspective from any Black families on how they approach the question, which is a serious blind spot given the subject matter!
We are currently reading The Railway Children and my boys (7&5, the 2 year old is just along for the ride) are loving it much more than I would anticipate. It’s a good reminder to me to not shy away from older books with more difficult language, because they are capable of understanding far more than I would expect, and the bits that are challenging make for great conversation. Also, they were enthralled at the idea of the paper chase (a game I’d never heard of an imagine is either a British thing or a turn-of-the-twentieth-century thing or both) and want to do one with their friends…sadly, we have no train tunnels (ha) or miles of fields for them to run in, but I think we can still figure out a way to make it happen.
As far as E Nesbit’s other books go, I appreciate the caution about the unsavory bits and will stick to reading these aloud vs giving them to my kids to read on their own. That has been my strategy with the Little House books as well, because racism is a major theme in several of the books.
As a child much of the reading I did was on my own. I was reading some complex books fairly early. I have a vague memory of reading the N word in a book long before I had any concept of it being something bad. I even think I may have used it out loud not knowing the implications. I would be much less worried about encountering the N word in a book I am reading out loud to my daughter because then I could explain. I would find it rather challenging if she encountered the N word for the first time completely unbeknownst to me.
Classics are my go-to read alouds. The kids can read whatever fluff they like independently, but if I'm reading, I'm reading the good stuff. We just finished The Secret Garden and the word 'fat' came up over and over. Hodgson Burnett uses it non-offensively though, the characters want to be fat or fattened up, and as such I had no problem with the word constantly cropping up.
Hi Caroline, some quick thoughts re old books:
I think a lot of what we see as red flags just flies over our children’s heads although I felt like you do with some of that kind of language. When I read older books aloud I would skip over some of it with the younger ones or point out that a certain word used to be used but we don’t use it now.
When you have children that are good readers you want to let them loose with quality literature and sooner or later, unless you want to drastically cull everything they read, they will come across objectional slurs or words. I suppose the question is when…
Kids will pick up our attitudes & language on these issues.
One of your commentors mentioned C.S. Lewis’ thoughts on chronological snobbery & I often think of what he said when we try to sanitise the past. We all have our blindspots & I sometimes wonder what future generations will say of us when they look back.
There are modern books that are more subtle but are objectionable in other ways & I was honestly more concerned with those.
Sorry, Catherine! Not Caroline. 🤨
Don’t worry, it happens all the time!
I remember The Otterbury Incident from when I was little! A classic! And yes I even remember reading the bit about sex appeal from when I was 8/9 and thinking, hmmm.
As for books with outdated views, Rosie has enjoyed everything by E. Nesbit but I find her attention dwells better with novels with more modern themes -- the Vanderbeekers and Chrestomanci novels most recently, and currently the Wrinkle In Time series.
I do trust in her curiosity to open up conversations with me about jarring words and concepts, because the questions do arise and I'm careful to place them into context. Whilst I am selective about the novels she reads (I bought her a Kindle for that purpose) I tend to encourage classical reads for the richness of language and sense of history they evoke, even if that involves outdated and uninclusive perspectives.
I find this in my own reading, also. I re-read The Bell Jar for the first time since adolescence a few years ago, and was struck by the pervasiveness of racial profiling. It unsettled me, for sure, but still doesn't diminish Plath's brilliance - just another insight into the perspective of those times.
Thanks so much for providing rich food for thought, Catherine!
For those of you who have the honest conversations with your children about why these words or stereotypes are inappropriate can anyone give me an example of what that conversation looks like? I’m just looking for a guide to go by and sometimes hearing ideas of how it’s done in your home helps me tailor to suit me. I didn’t have healthy communication meddled to me so trying to do it different as I raise my son even if it feels uncomfortable.
I want you to know, Catherine, that I respect your opinion—and isn’t it great you (and me) can freely voice that, at least for the moment, in America. And I will very respectfully disagree about censorship of any kind. I am in full favor of parents and other adults who care about kids, knowing about the books our children are reading—I’m in more favor of reading those books together or at least always talking about what we’re reading, the context in which the author wrote it, the themes therein, and the language used. I’m against censorship of all kinds for a number of reasons—the main one being “who gets to choose what to censor? And why?” It IS a slippery slope best avoided by not going down it. As a parent, you have the right to limit what your child reads or is exposed to (to the degree you can—but you should keep in mind the nature of human nature, especially adolescent nature when they are told they cannot do something….if you get my drift). You also have the right as a parent to TRUST what you are teaching them and that your teaching will stand them in good stead when they are challenged or away from you. I sometimes chuckle at parents who use the thin rationale: “Yes, of course we teach them our own values and morals, but I worry about them when they aren’t under my direct supervision.” Well, if you taught them, and taught them well, and have the kind of relationship with them where they can come to you with questions, and you can go to them with questions, and engage in honest and loving conversations, then WHY WORRY? Better to have that kind of relationship than to helicopter parent them by taking away from them anything that might be offensive (you would be a VERY busy, and nosey, parent!). Our children are going to be exposed to things we don’t like—that’s a guarantee. Better to start them early with a mature way of discussing those sensitive things with an adult that they know loves and respects them.
Simply put, again respectfully, I don’t want you or anyone else censoring what an author wrote, and that I may want to read even to my own children, that appeases your values but keeps me from having a great conversation with my children. Censorship is a form of revisionist history. And that should never, ever, be okay.
Oof, that A&E story was a hard read. I’m sure that was truly awful to experience for your reader. We’ve been questioned, albeit mildly, while visiting A&E when my son had low blood sugar from a stomach bug but not had to deal with children’s services.
However… we had to do a wellbeing check recently after the team who did my son’s autism assessment decided he hadn’t “been seen” by any professionals for years. (He had.) It went round and round for a while as no one knew who exactly was responsible for doing this wellbeing check. In the end, it ended up being with our GP who was really positive but pressed on us that changes are coming that will make it more difficult to home ed. It’s really put me on edge as to what the {between the lines}/long-term vision of the wellbeing and schools bill actually is.
Thanks for taking the time to share that Hayley. Great news that your GP was so positive and thank goodness you ended up being seen by someone sensible, but how depressing about what they said is coming. I can only hope they’re wrong!
I feel like I have many conflicting feelings on this topic. Most classics in this house are read alouds and therefore I am there to add a little context. There’s a fine line however (which I’m still trying to find!) between continually interjecting and also realising that no literature is perfect - sometimes if something is particularly brutal (the n word we have not come across!) we will discuss why the author wrote it and why it’s harmful. After reading lots of ´old’ books both kids are used to my standard disclaimer of ‘this is an old book so remember there will be lots of stereotypes that are not ok’ and oftentimes they point these out themselves. I don’t like the *idea* of censoring (you only have to look at book bans to see where it often goes wrong) - but I do understand your point of a reader coming across this independently - does one word being changed count? I don’t know where I stand here. Do children filter out the content themselves when reading? Maybe they do. I’m pretty sure I absorbed my whole child and teen library as a child but I’d argue I didn’t really *understand* most of them - just like children don’t bat an eye at certain song lyrics when they are too far over their heads. I’d like to think that the more we talk about these topics in real life that they would learn to see these problematic parts of literature themselves as they grow. I do not however expect this of them at 7 and 9 so I will continue to haphazardly attempt muddle through.
Haphazardly muddling through is exactly where I am on this question too!
Now my daughter is older I don’t get to read aloud to her as much as I’d like, so often the books I do read aloud are the classics she wouldn’t choose herself. We’ve loved The Railway Children, A Christmas Carol, and The Secret Garden, and we’re currently reading Wind in the Willows (which I adore though some of it hasn’t aged well).
Agree that while there’s lots of scope for discussing harmful portrayals, stereotypes, and language and unpacking the historic context, I would not expect or want my daughter to come across a book published in 2017 (!) with the ‘n’ word, particularly if there is no disclaimer or warning.
My husband is Jewish and still chose to read her Roald Dahl books when she was younger, though we also openly talked to her about how antisemitic he was and highlighted / edited some of the more horrid language.
I try and mix up classics with modern children’s books, although we’re reading fewer classics these days. As much as my son enjoyed The Secret Garden, because we live in Yorkshire, there is a lot of problematic content in there that we discussed rather than hiding. Ella Risbridger wrote a very good accompanying novel a few years ago called The Secret Detectives that has a better look a Britain and India (and Nush and the Stolen Emerald by Jasbinder Bilan takes it even further).
I know people adore the classics and for good reason, but there are so many good books being written for children and young people today that better reflect their worlds or look at historical events more inclusively (Safiyyah’s War by Hines Noor Khan taught us about the role of the Muslim community helping to protect Jewish people in Paris is WW2) that we need to promote more, it’s my mission at work in the library!
I like this perspective a lot, and so agree that there are wonderful books being published today. We were looking at The City of Stolen Magic the other day (set in India, 1885) which sounds like a good fit alongside the books you mention.
Ooh I’ll look that one up too, thank you!
I'm new to Substack, but my account and our software are about children's literacy. We have about 6.5k followers on TikTok. Most of our customers are homeschoolers, though we're not only for homeschoolers. My good friend Rachael (2nd generation homeschooler and mom of 5) has a great new Substack account: https://substack.com/@deardiarythenewsletter She has about 12k followers on TikTok.