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Sunday, April 29, 2012

Dabbling in Fairy Tales

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“Now the shepherd spent his days…up on the wide ocean-bosom of the Downs, with only the sun and the stars and the sheep for company…But his little son, when he wasn’t helping his father, and often when he was as well, spent much of his time buried in big volumes that he borrowed from the affable gentry and interested parsons of the country round about. And his parents were very fond of him, and rather proud of him too, though they didn’t let on in his hearing, so he was left to go his own way and read as much as he liked; and instead of frequently getting a cuff on the side of the head, as might very well have happened to him, he was treated more or less as an equal by his parents, who sensibly thought it a very fair division of labour that they should supply the practical knowledge, and he the book-learning. They knew that book-learning often came in useful at a pinch, in spite of what their neighbours said. What the Boy chiefly dabbled in was natural history and fairy tales, and he just took them as they came, in a sandwichy sort of way, without making any distinctions; and really his course of reading strikes one as rather sensible.”

~Kenneth Grahame, The Reluctant Dragon

6 comments:

Rebecca said...

You mentioned, Once upon a time, enjoying Pinterest. I wonder if you have boards there?...and what is your screen name? You are one gal whose pins I wouldn't mind spying on! ;-)

Anonymous said...

Heidi,
There is another blog I follow who happened to have a post on The Reluctant Dragon the same day you posted yours. I found her take interesting on why she woudld NOT recommend this book. Food for thought, certainly. You can find it here:
http://thoughtsaftergod.blogspot.com/2012/04/rerun-reconsidering-kenneth-grahames.html

Julie in St. Louis

Heidi said...

Rebecca~ I haven't been on there a while. Here is my link: http://pinterest.com/mthopeheidi/. By the way, it seems to me that you were the one who recommended The Terrestria Chronicles a while back. If so, thank you!! Levi has LOVED the first three. I have the rest of them on his wish list. :)

Julie~ Thanks for the link. I'm aware of that position, and it is always wise to spend some time reevaluating what and why you are reading! But I still love The Reluctant Dragon. :) I don't think I am in agreement that dragons should/must be equated with Satan or evil in every single story or piece of fiction written. But that is just my opinion. I think Kenneth Grahame wrote a very tongue-in-cheek story dealing with stereotypes (not just with the dragon, but also with the boy--the dragon immediately thought the boy was going to hit him or throw stones at him) and how we need to get to know people instead of judging them. In order to write an effective book on stereotypes, one has to pick a well-known stereotype. :)

Misha said...

we love this book! : )

Rebecca said...

Hey! Thanks Heidi! I'll be looking for you on Pinterest!

As for the Terrestria Chronicles-yep, it was me. My girlie has dog-eared the set pretty much beyond repair. Glad to hear that Levi likes them too!

My 30th birthday is coming up and I am doing something crazy to 'celebrate' (har har). Making up lists of 30 on different topics. One such list is 30 book recommendations. And guess what is on that list? ;-)

CC Jen said...

Off to the library to check out this intriguing book!