I am over at Writing to be Read with a post about whether children should read abridged classics. Thank you Kaye Lynne Booth for hosting me.
There are many wonderful classic books available to people who are interested in reading them. I have recently re-read War of the Worlds and The Time Machine, both by H.G. Wells and also Dracula by Bram Stoker. I read these books in my early teens and, while I did enjoy them, I don’t remember appreciating any of the subtleties of the development of the characters in these books or the psychological and philosophical aspects either. This is because I did not have the life experience at that time to appreciate these concepts and their incredible appropriateness and cleverness.
I have never restricted or limited my children’s reading choices. This is because I believe that children can only experience and visualise the written world in the context of their own life experiences. If a child has never attended a funeral, they cannot visualise the white and haggard faces of the…
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Robbie's inspiration 
A great article, Robbie. I commented on Writing to be Read.
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Thank you, Darlene
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nice post
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Thank you.
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Wonderful post, Robbie! 🙂
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Thank you, Bette.
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Great post. As a reader of abridged classics as a child, I couldn’t agree more, Robbie.
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Olga. It seems a lot of people who read abridged classics as children go on to read the originals. I am always pleased to know I belong to a group.
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To get children reading at all these days is a triumph in itself…
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That is true of some children, Stevie. There are still a lot of big readers among the boys at my sons schools. I think it depends on the family and whether the parents read and encourage reading.
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Yes of course. Too many parents are glued to their phones, and their children are too.
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It is good for children to read books that are useful for them and you have said it so well in your post, Robbie. Thanks for this beautiful share.
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Thank you, Kamal. I am pleased you enjoyed this post.
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Welcome dear Robbie u r always good.
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This approach to making the arts exciting has been used in music for a long time. I liked it there, don’t know if I like it in books. But I think it’s well-rooted in elementary schools so probably too late to change anything!
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In South Africa, abridged classics are only available in the junior schools. The kids in high school are expected to read the unabridged books. You can do English analysis on the short version, I agree.
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Abridged versions are an excellent idea. Some of those classics are pretty wordy, and can be daunting.
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I also think so Teri, but I do agree with Jennie’s comment that there are a few books that don’t simplify well like The Secret Garden. Most of them are fine though.
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Great post, Robbie. I commented on the original. 🙂
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Thank you, Norah.
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