Tag: children’s literature

Philip Pullman and the revival of fascism

January 1, 2018 3 Comments
Philip Pullman and the revival of fascism

One of the sweetest memories of reading books to our daughters when they were young was narrating Philip Pullman’s ‘His dark materials trilogy’ to E. in the 1990s, not long after the books were published.  One of them, Northern lights, carries a message to E. from the author on its title page.  Sometimes I’d continue […]

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The socialist submariner

March 19, 2017 0 Comments
The socialist submariner

My friend J. asked me the other day whether as a child I’d read stories set in schools.  I said I couldn’t recall reading any, despite being a greedy reader – unless you counted Tom Brown’s schooldays, a present from some well-intentioned aunt, which I found unreadable and never finished.  The only explanation I could […]

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