In the article, Lowry repsonds to her critics, who have challenged her books around the country for having "disturbing themes."
- "'I consider it very troubling,' she says. 'I guess it does say that I write to serious and provocative issues. But I'm somebody who cares a great deal about children and their sensitivities. I would never write anything in a million years that would be damaging to children.'"
Lowry also says something I agree with completely about reading fiction as a child: "'I think reading fiction is the way we rehearse our own lives and prepare ourselves for things we are going to encounter...Children should read about loss and pain and sorrow, she says, because kids are going to encounter scary and disturbing things at some point.'"
Isn't that the truth?
*********************************
I discovered today while writing this post that Lois Lowry has a blog. (Like most wordsmiths, Lowry does not like the word "blog")
2 comments:
Wow, it's disturbing to me that so many people think that children shouldn't read books with disturbing themes! What kind of a world would we live in if kids grow up with a painfree, sanitized worldview. Oh, I think we would end up with a world like that of the Giver! We'd have adults, afraid of pain, afraid of intimacy, willing to abdicate the responsibility of their lives to anyone who will protect them. Makes one think.
Anyway, sorry to wax philosophical. I love Lois Lowry's books because of the disturbing themes.
I hear you, Sheila. It's infuriating. I didn't even post on the mom protesting Potter in Alabama (which she hasn't read, of course, as the books are too long and she's a busy mom), because these people are just insane.
And, I think we have many adults of the type you mentioned in this world (or country), unfortunately!
Post a Comment