Wednesday, June 15, 2011

When is a book a children's book and when is it something else?



Okay, a long title, but that's basically the gist of my thinking today.

There are books that kids love to read and there are books that kids might come to like and then there are books like my lemon crocheted dress my great-great aunt made me when I was 9. My GGA Sylvie was a fearsome woman with a sharp tongue and whiskers on her chin and hands like claws due to extreme arthritis. One day she presented me with the said dress which had satin lining and was in a shell kind of crochet which would have taken her many painful hours to execute.
I had to wear that dress at least once when she came to visit, if only to prove how much I appreciated her gift.
I would have to have been the least favourite dress I ever had.

It was a child size dress.
But was it a child's dress?

If you get what I mean...

2 comments:

Renee Taprell said...

That's so true, Karen. Many people think that children like certain books and characters and will use their own childhood memories as a reference. That's fine because
human behaviour is human behaviour but I believe it all comes down to observation. I observe what children are interested in and how children play, talk, fight, and interact.

I take that philosophy now when buying gifts for friends. I used to believe that I should buy a gift that I would like, but now I don't. I give what I think they will like.

karen tayleur said...

Well noted, Renee!