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capri0mniIn which I sing more praises of E. Nesbit.
I'm not certain it will be my default for long; it may be gone tomorrow.
I'm not sure I like it. I really should master animated gifs, so that I can do icons with readable words.
The words ('no aunts are likely to write 'How true!' on the side of the story) are from one of the opening pargraphs of Five Children and It. The creature is my interpretation of the magical being in that story. Towhit:
According to the biograghies I read on Wikipedia and About.com (which, admittedly, may have been quoting each other) Nesbit invented the genre of children's fantasy where the story happens in the here and now of our world (instead of, say, in a parallel universe that you reach through a wardrobe, or by making a running leap at a railway platform with a fractional number).
Which is, frankly, my favorite sort of story to get lost in, because it rather makes you look at the world in a different light after you close the book.
Even though one of her stories is about a "crippled" boy who chooses, in the end, to live the version of his life where he is "whole" (Harding's Luck), I have a feeling that if I were to invite her to my fantasy dinner party, I could talk to her about ableism and how the crippled don't really wish to be cured, because she demonstrates an understanding of the social constructs that contribute to happiness. And so many of her contemporaries who were writing for children seem stuck on the "people are inheriently good or wicked" trope.
So. Yes.
I seem to have run out of steam, and don't really have a snappy ending. Except "I really like E. Nesbit's books!"
I'm not certain it will be my default for long; it may be gone tomorrow.
I'm not sure I like it. I really should master animated gifs, so that I can do icons with readable words.
The words ('no aunts are likely to write 'How true!' on the side of the story) are from one of the opening pargraphs of Five Children and It. The creature is my interpretation of the magical being in that story. Towhit:
(begin quote)
The children stood round the hole in a ring, looking at the creature they had found. It was worth looking at. Its eyes were on long horns like a snail's eyes, and it could move them in and out like telescopes; it had ears like a bat's ears, and its tubby body was shaped like a spider's and covered with thick soft fur; its legs and arms were furry too, and it had hands and feet like a monkey's.
'What on earth is it?' Jane said. 'Shall we take it home?'
The thing turned its long eyes to look at her, and said: 'Does she always talk nonsense, or is it only the rubbish on her head that makes her silly?'
It looked scornfully at Jane's hat as it spoke.
(end quote)
According to the biograghies I read on Wikipedia and About.com (which, admittedly, may have been quoting each other) Nesbit invented the genre of children's fantasy where the story happens in the here and now of our world (instead of, say, in a parallel universe that you reach through a wardrobe, or by making a running leap at a railway platform with a fractional number).
Which is, frankly, my favorite sort of story to get lost in, because it rather makes you look at the world in a different light after you close the book.
Even though one of her stories is about a "crippled" boy who chooses, in the end, to live the version of his life where he is "whole" (Harding's Luck), I have a feeling that if I were to invite her to my fantasy dinner party, I could talk to her about ableism and how the crippled don't really wish to be cured, because she demonstrates an understanding of the social constructs that contribute to happiness. And so many of her contemporaries who were writing for children seem stuck on the "people are inheriently good or wicked" trope.
So. Yes.
I seem to have run out of steam, and don't really have a snappy ending. Except "I really like E. Nesbit's books!"
