Hedberg: Kids Books May Be Too Real

Maurice Sendak, the renowned children’s author who died last week, has been credited with creating stories that became famous because of the realistic way they painted childhood. Oh great. Realism, again. “I like interesting people, and kids are really interesting people,” Sendak told The Associated Press in 2011. “And if you didn’t paint them in little blue, pink and yellow, it’s even more interesting.”I’m a parent who read “Where the Wild Things Are” to my children without having read the critics’ reviews first. Afterwards, I spent countless sleepless nights wondering if I’d introduced ideas into my children’s lives that would cause them to become sociopathic. So far there’s been no sign of that. Although there were a few years around the time of high school graduation and the first semesters of college when I was convinced my children had gone the way of the wild things and might never return. When you stop to think about it, children’s literature historically has not really depicted life as Disneyesque/ Kathy Hedberg , Lewiston Tribune. More here .

Question: Do you think children’s books are a little too realistic?