tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3758609568631190155.post8148140133231011928..comments2024-03-29T07:12:24.516+00:00Comments on Picture Book Den: Why Are We Afraid of the Dark? by Timothy KnapmanUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3758609568631190155.post-89379911267578561822019-06-04T12:57:29.042+01:002019-06-04T12:57:29.042+01:00Not Now Bernard by David McKee is still one of my ...Not Now Bernard by David McKee is still one of my favourite all time picture books. It gets pretty dark... There are very few in the UK (there were far more in France when we lived there twenty-ish years ago). One (at least a little bit dark) exception is The Baby That Roared (by Simon Puttock and Nadia Shireen; Nosy Crow) which is really funny and has an ending quite like the knife and fork ending you talk about above (though slightly less scary).Juliet Clare Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06020801246132751659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3758609568631190155.post-33866213294554065342019-05-29T12:21:15.481+01:002019-05-29T12:21:15.481+01:00Have endlessly blogged about this, and it's sa...Have endlessly blogged about this, and it's sad to think that year on year, the 'darker' books have all but disappeared from our reviews roster. They are still there, but they always seem to be published by small-print or independent publishers who care not for "what's doing the rounds at Hay this year" or "What trend can we camp on from this year's Bologna / London Book Fair". More power to them. Kids love and adore dark stories, they love living vicariously through vicious villains, they love mild scares, and sometimes they even love stuff that worms its way into their memory and imagination and stays put. <br /><br />I think the problem is that we adults fear that our kids can't cope with the darker stuff, and make every attempt to wrap up their reading matter in cotton wool, books that push acceptable moral standards or some cheesy twee and sickly sweet 'message' about friendship, self worth, etc - when really what kids also want is a good mix of Fungus the Bogeyman, or Fearsome Beastie, or "The Dark" or "The Black Dog"ReadItDaddyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03701448003248147233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3758609568631190155.post-91515657964147544222019-05-29T12:05:11.361+01:002019-05-29T12:05:11.361+01:00Brilliant post, Tim. I'm trying to sell someth...Brilliant post, Tim. I'm trying to sell something scary at the minute. Not holding my breath. Handling fear is such an important life skill. Crazy to sanitise it out of books.<br />Michelle Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09620246793467493696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3758609568631190155.post-84987883754300619842019-05-28T12:44:23.194+01:002019-05-28T12:44:23.194+01:00Oh I LOVE this post!Oh I LOVE this post!Enid Richemonthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17218197995089241666noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3758609568631190155.post-12561976456739253282019-05-28T07:50:31.954+01:002019-05-28T07:50:31.954+01:00Brilliant, Tim. Well said. Nothing better than a g...Brilliant, Tim. Well said. Nothing better than a good scare while you can still climb into someone’s lap for a cuddle.Ruth Thorpehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15331985991419662854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3758609568631190155.post-8114635099934357172019-05-27T13:20:02.603+01:002019-05-27T13:20:02.603+01:00Thank you for writing this Tim. It is something th...Thank you for writing this Tim. It is something that I think about a lot too. I think it's a real shame. Jonathan Emmet has written about this subject too on his blog and he raises interesting points. I think one of the most problematic unintended consequences of sweetening up childrens books is that children who do want a darker outlet are put off by books and turn to TV and gaming where there is darker content.Chris Haughtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17117342355491975529noreply@blogger.com