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Looking at secular books

If you have primary school age children, or grandchildren, if you are a listener to Radio 4 or involved in the teaching profession then I’m sure you will have come across the name of Michael Morpurgo.

For those of you who have not heard the name, then may I introduce you to the foremost children’s writer of our age? He has published over 100 works since the mid 70s, has won all the prizes available for children’s literature, been Children’s Laureate (from 2003-5) had works made into major films and presented a brilliant series, The Invention of Childhood on Radio Four. He and his wife also run a charity Farms For City Children. It is certainly difficult to be critical of the hard working fellow.

Fast moving

Morpurgo’s works are always fast moving and adventurous; as so often in children’s literature a child is isolated from what is familiar and secure and has to battle against great adversity to reach new safety. The writing is always confident and fluent and the settings are superb; at bedtimes my children have been transported to the Dunkirk beaches, to the Spanish Civil War, to the Trenches of the Somme, to pre-war Africa, to the Scilly Isles and the Pacific. Towards the end of a story, my boys will groan and ask, ‘Are you crying again, Mummy?’!

Influencing the young

The influence of Michael Morpurgo is huge, then, so how is he seeking to affect young, and not so young minds? Maybe one story, King of the Cloud Forests, can serve as an example. A young boy, Ashley, has to leave his father’s mission hospital in China, as the Japanese invade shortly before World War II; he is already doubting his father’s dogmatic Christianity and gains a great deal from his companion, a Tibetan Bhuddist, as they travel together through the Himalayas. The great values of courage, selflessness, and faithfulness are exalted in a way which can only be good for our children; Ashley, learns about truthfulness and is plagued by his conscience when he misleads someone to save his own skin. When close to death and alone, Ashley is rescued by Yetis (yes really! it does work in context!) and he comes to live in their pre-lapsarian world.

The excluded

Animals, and those excluded by society, often the elderly and the mentally ill, play a huge part in nearly every Morpurgo story. Heroes and their families are flawed, so rescue and wisdom come from these innocent aliens. While this is not a new pattern in children’s literature (see for example, Frances Hodgson Burnett’s tremendous The Secret Garden, where contrary Mary and proud Colin are rescued by working with patient Dickon in the garden), here more complex because it pits convention against creation; parents, schools and society cannot achieve what an encounter with nature can. Michael Morpurgo does often elevate nature into a supernatural force, and animals into angels. What a lot to talk about with our children! Christian parents and teachers often overreact to books which deal in the supernatural, e.g. Harry Potter, and under react to books which can present much more subtle parallels and challenges to the gospel.

Don’t stop reading these books, they are great, well written stories, but do use them as opportunities to talk about authority and salvation.

Sarah Allen

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<< March 2007 >>