Good quote, Fraz! And so very true.

- Cho

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Originally posted by Fraz:
"Fairy tales don't teach children that monsters exist.
Children already know that monsters exist.
Fairy tales teach children that monsters can be killed."
--G. K. Chesterton

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Just one more reason why G.K. Chesterton is the man.

And Neil Gaiman quotes him all the time. Which is just one more reason why Neil Gaiman is the... um... living man. The man. Who is alive. Which Chesteron isn't. Because he's dead.

Caspian, I groove to your jive-talking. Chesterton is indeed the man. Every time I think I've collected all his best quotes, someone finds something new.

a. lady_Door, get new friends. Anyone who uses the word "weird" in a derogatory manner deserves only boring, stupid friends. And an early death, perhaps at the hands of a strange man who controls rats.

B. I wrote a kid's book, and it was rather normal. I wrote it for Spanish class, but it was not perverse at all. For all my rhetoric, i don't think i'd have to heart to mess with kids... but i would hope my book instills stuff like courage and indiviuality... and the scary stuff should be REAL scary.

it will also teach the kids about the power of ROCK AND FOLL

Kids like Coraline because they know that she's the heroine so no matter what shes going to come out okay.

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it will also teach the kids about the power of ROCK AND FOLL

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Rock and Foll?

My opinion is that fantasy books are the best type to read to read OR write, whether for children or anyone else. I really want to write books and, yes, I want them to be as interesting and mind-boggling as Coraline and Neil's other books. =)

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Originally posted by averde:
I think there is an idea running around that anything that is slightly dark isn't suitable for children.

It is a new and stupid idea in my opinion.

Stories for children have always included the darker side of human nature. The good ones, at any rate.

I think any author that is any good at what they do and knows anything about the inner life of children understands that because children still *believe* in magical worlds and monsters in the closet they are the perfect audience for works like Coraline. It doesn't harm them; it gives them an outlet for what is already in their heads.

Of course, I may not be the best person to be posting a response to this since the children's books that were about daffodils, lollipops and rainbows bored me witless but at the age of 9 or so I really got into The Lord of the Flies and the like.

But I will say that fairytales are supposed to be like this. If they aren't they aren't really fairy tales. They are just fluffy fantasies.

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I completely agree. As a child, and now as a teen, books about the strange and unknown always held my attention much better than stuff that actually happens to real people. I mean, who wants to read about normal, daily life when you can read about people trapped behind mirrors, or a city underneath London?

i agree that coraline is a very scary and disturbing book and maybe not suitable for all children. it depends on the person. when i was a kid i loved scary things! i read 'the witches' by roald dahl when i was about 7 and got so scared that i wanted to read it again and again.

i also loved the real versions of fairytales... the one that neil has written a story about ('the white road' from 'smoke and mirrors', it's a gruesome story that involves horrible murder and a chopped of finger) used to be my favorite.

however, what really upset me was the shooting of bambi's mother in the well known disney movie. i still can't watch that scene. i mean, disney is known for being all about hugs and puppy's, but in almost every movie they kill the parents! what's up with that?

I don't get the popularity of books like Sweet Vally High, or even the slightly darker books about teens using drugs. If I wanted to read that, I'd read the newspaper. To me books shouldn't have anything to do with real life.

I think people - mostly adults - don't give children enough credit. When I was younger - elementary and middle school age - I knew I knew more about life, the universe, and everything than adults would give me credit for but I also realized that there was a lot of stuff I didn't know. I got into an... let's call it discussion with someone who is very smart and doesn't take crap from people - actually, I think people are afraid to give him crap. he was saying something like people my - being me not him - age yada yada yada and I told him what I just told you and we ... discussed it some more. Let's just say I showed him. Kids have deepth that most people don't realize.