Children’s Classics Being Abridge Too Far

dbryan writes “A story from Salon.com [Note: You must either be a Salon subscriber, or watch a commercial to view the full article]
describes how the author felt upon discovering that some of her favorite books from childhood such as “The House at Pooh Corner” and “The Wind and the Willows” have been published and sold in ‘Disney-esque’ abridged and altered versions.” The side-by-side reading of the original works with the Great Illustrated Classic versions are quite telling. Compare to the controversies over colorizing old films.

March 30, 2004 by Uncategorized 2

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2 Responses

  1. slashgirl says:
    March 30, 2004 at 6:15 pm

    dumbing down
    For the most part, I dislike abridged versions. I do buy them for my school library–but only because it seems many of the children can’t (or is it won’t?) read the full versions, and I’m talking about our “good” readers. Good as opposed to those who have difficulty reading or are not reading at grade level.

    Maybe I have skewed perspective as I was a voracious (still am) reader. I was reading VC Andrews at age 11 (no, my mother didn’t know) and Stephen King by the time I was 13. My great grandmother gave me the first three Anne of Green Gables books for xmas the year I was 11 and LM Montgomery’s “Blue Castle” when I was 12 (and it’s my fave Montgomery book). I don’t think many of the children I work with, who are at the grade 5 reading level could manage those books. I look back at my elementary report cards and I was always listed as reading at grade level, never above.

    Maybe the kids today can’t handle the longer books–they’re so used to every thing being done RIGHT NOW. I fear that they will miss the “magic” of the full length books…miss being drawn into another world…miss learning the language of the author.

    And, as much as I dislike abridged (or adapted) versions–I guess being exposed to the work in some form is better than not being exposed at all, isn’t it?

    s/

    Reply
  2. Fang-Face says:
    March 30, 2004 at 6:49 pm

    Re:dumbing down

    And, as much as I dislike abridged (or adapted) versions–I guess being exposed to the work in some form is better than not being exposed at all, isn’t it?

    Yes and no. Everything in life is a trade off. Using dumbed down materials to get children to read might get more kids reading, but it lowers the bar, and you cannot improve the quality of a product by lowering the the standards it must meet or exceed. Also, I think that a big part of the problem with educational materials today is that they so simplified they bore the students; a point made obliquely in the story recently posted about textbook censorship. If you want kids to learn, you’ve got to make it interesting for them.

    Reply

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