Friday, October 05, 2007
Hmmm, do you think someone is possibly pulling the Daily Mail's plonker?
Children's books that don't have happy endings should be banned, it was claimed yesterday. Youngsters are already exposed to enough misery in their lives and should be protected from such stories, says a parents' group. The Happy Ending Foundation is planning a series of Bad Book Bonfires for later this month, when parents will be encouraged to burn novels with negative endings... Among the stories on the foundation's blacklist are best-sellers such as A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket and Marcus Pfister's Milo and the Magical Stones... Adrienne Small founded the organisation when her ten-year-old daughter became depressed and withdrawn after reading the first book in the Lemony Snicket series.
So, rather than minding her own business and just going to the library and suggesting her child read the first Harry Potter book or something like 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' Mrs Small decided to start a nationwide society to restrict children's reading. As you do.
Here's the website. I had some difficulty finding it because the Mail misnamed the group as the Happy Ending Foundation rather than Happy EndingS Foundation. But surely, someone is taking the piss? Sad books are bad books. Mrs Small has now left her career as a tax inspector to focus on THEF full-time. She plans to rewrite all 13 Lemony Snicket books to give them happy endings. Her versions will be published on-line - watch this website! I'm sure Daniel Handler and Egmont Books will be watching the website. Wholesale rewriting of a current children's book, I don't think 'fair use' works here.
I don't know. I'm not a parent, but I would have thought that if my child was sad because they'd read a book that made them unhappy I would have tried talking to them about it, or tried cheering them up?
Children's books that don't have happy endings should be banned, it was claimed yesterday. Youngsters are already exposed to enough misery in their lives and should be protected from such stories, says a parents' group. The Happy Ending Foundation is planning a series of Bad Book Bonfires for later this month, when parents will be encouraged to burn novels with negative endings... Among the stories on the foundation's blacklist are best-sellers such as A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket and Marcus Pfister's Milo and the Magical Stones... Adrienne Small founded the organisation when her ten-year-old daughter became depressed and withdrawn after reading the first book in the Lemony Snicket series.
So, rather than minding her own business and just going to the library and suggesting her child read the first Harry Potter book or something like 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' Mrs Small decided to start a nationwide society to restrict children's reading. As you do.
Here's the website. I had some difficulty finding it because the Mail misnamed the group as the Happy Ending Foundation rather than Happy EndingS Foundation. But surely, someone is taking the piss? Sad books are bad books. Mrs Small has now left her career as a tax inspector to focus on THEF full-time. She plans to rewrite all 13 Lemony Snicket books to give them happy endings. Her versions will be published on-line - watch this website! I'm sure Daniel Handler and Egmont Books will be watching the website. Wholesale rewriting of a current children's book, I don't think 'fair use' works here.
I don't know. I'm not a parent, but I would have thought that if my child was sad because they'd read a book that made them unhappy I would have tried talking to them about it, or tried cheering them up?
Labels: books, Daily Mail, stupidity
