Behind the Stars: boys, imagination, and literature

By April 23, 2014Uncategorized

The following is an extract from a fantastic book called About Books and Children by Bess Porter Adams. The author provides a wealth of knowledge on great literature, brilliant insights into child development, and great teaching tips.

Here is a snippet on child development from the chapter entitled Behind the Stars, Literature for Middle Childhood:

“The third or fourth grade child…is inclined to be quite independent in his thoughts and actions. Home is important, but does not fill his life as completely as it did three years ago. He is interested in playing away from home; in venturing farther from his immediate neighborhood.

boy-and-dog

The boy of this age has a highly developed imagination, which is no longer confined to the world close about him. The eight-year-old sails over the mountains of the moon on a magic cloud, There is no limit to his imagination; he can go at will into a world of his own devising peoples by rare spirits of his own choosing. He is sensitive to poetry and loves dramatic play.

He is very close to nature, young enough to feel a part of the world of animals, flowers, rain, and wind–old enough to sense the mystery which surrounds every form of life. He can almost believe that angels hang out the stars and that the wind rushes past on invisible horses. And while he doesn’t altogether believe, he doesn’t altogether disbelieve, and it is fun to imagine.

Boy and Springtime

This then is the period for encouraging imagination, for developing the ability to think in terms of the fanciful and abstract. Dreamers become builders: a nation of unimaginative realists would produce no artists, poets, authors, musicians, inventors, or scientists.

To help fill the need of a child for worthwhile imaginative material one looks first to the folk and fairy tales which have delighted countless generations of youngsters. The appeal of the fairy tale is not (as some adults suppose) to girls only. Boys are equally charmed with the humorous and imaginative aspects of this type of story. In perhaps the majority of tales the boy’s interests predominate; in practically all of them they are insufficient to hold his attention. There is nothing effeminate about the fairy tale; its heroes are virile, resourceful, and courageous, and they have breathtaking, man-sized adventures.”

Boy reading

Bess Porter Adams then goes on to list and describe various books in this genre. Here are a few  she recommends:

Arabian Knights

Hans Christian Anderson

The Adventures of Pinocchio 

Wind in the Willows

Peter Pan

Bartholomew and the Ooberleck

East of the Sun and West of the Moon

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Peter Searby

Author Peter Searby

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