If that were so, many of these older books which are being applauded here would not be read at all and that would be a great shame. We have to let go of the thought that everything we read should reflect today’s mores and ideas. Does this make them any less valid or less worth reading? No! but the reader needs to take into account when they were written, and be prepared, if necessary, to think through and discuss the issues with their children, or with others.
This will be true for today’s books, too, some of which may be considered completely reprehensible for one reason or another, in fifty years or so. I think it is really, really important for readers of today to keep in mind that the time in which a book was written will be reflected in the story. These kinds of things (the racial issues in Little House) don’t disturb me in the least because those books were written in a different time. These are great books for girls, with strong, adventurous, brave female characters. And Sally Watson’s historical novels about the English, Scottish and colonial branches of the extended Lennox-Cameron-MacLeod clan: Linnet, Mistress Malapert, The Outrageous Oriel, Loyal and the Dragon, Witch of the Glens, Castle Adamant, Lark, Jade, Highland Rebel, The Hornet’s Nest, and Poor Felicity, which the author has updated as The Delicate Pioneer. I also highly recommend Madeleine L’Engle’s Time books, and her series about the Austin family: Meet the Austins, The Moon By Night, The Young Unicorns, A Ring of Endless Light, and Troubling a Star.
Lewis’s Narnia books and Diana Wynne Jones’ Chronicles of Crestomanci, are good series, too. Except for “Peter Duck” and “Missee Lee,” of course. If you can find it, I highly recommend Christina Hardyments “Arthur Ransome and Captain Flint’s Trunk,” which is part biography of Ransome and part travelogue as the author and her children visit the places where the books are set. Yes, my kids loved the Swallows and Amazons books by Arthur Ransome.
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