So, one English writer of children's fiction says too much of it is too dark and depressing.
Another [Children's Laureate (!) Anthony Browne] disagrees, and tells us about his worryingly re-imagined Goldilocks:
“There are both types of endings, happier and unhappier. I prefer open endings. I don’t think we are living in an age of depressing, dark endings. If you look at Jacqueline Wilson, she does deal in gritty realism, but her books don’t lack aspiration.”So, I suppose her impoverished background explains why she had to go into the bears' house in search of food? Here I thought kids liked to think she was just a naughty girl.He recently changed the ending to his forthcoming book — Me and You, a retelling of Goldilocks and the Three Bears in which Goldilocks comes from an impoverished background — so that the ending was less miserable. “My original version had Goldilocks being chased out of the bears’ house and her ending up on bleak, dark streets. I decided to give it a more ambiguous ending, so now she is running toward something that may or may not be her mother.”
And what is this about her running towards "something" that might be her mother? Does he intend the book to be some sort of psychological test where you can judge your child's outlook by what they think the ending means?
Sack him, whoever has the job of appointing Children's Laureate.
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