imagination

Literature for Children Should Break Rules and Defy Boundaries

How the Moon Regained Her ShapeIn 1999, I went to a writers’ conference where one editor claimed that books for children must have the child hero or heroine alone completely solve the problems raised. I was astounded by this narrow-minded claim, which would nullify the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle stories, the Harry Potter novels, the adventures of Curious George, and many other fine books for children. In real life, adults including parents, coaches, and teachers often help kids to solve problems. The editor’s rule does not stand up to scrutiny. (more…)

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COLERIDGE, LAMB, HAZLITT, AND THE READER OF DRAMA by Janet Ruth Heller

scanheller0001Coleridge, Lamb, Hazlitt, and the Reader of Drama (University of Missouri Press, 1990) is a re-evaluation of British drama criticism of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Heller demonstrates that the British romantics’ bias against the staging of Shakespearean tragedy is rooted in an established and intellectually justifiable tradition in Western drama criticism. She also focuses on the misconception that the romantics were not interested in their readers. In fact, S. T. Coleridge, Charles Lamb, and William Hazlitt view the reader as an active participant in the process of interpreting literature, and they compare the reader’s imaginative powers to those of great writers. (more…)

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