My friend Judith Leader has been a guest on this blog before. Here she widens the debate on children’s literature. I have read with interest the posts by people about the books they read as children. I have been impressed by their knowledgeable writing, the books...
Gormad fell in like with Yairil as he watched her swordpractice: by turns fierce and cheerfully rueful. A few days later, he noticed the way her nose wrinkled when she laughed at his jokes, and “like” burst into “love.” Three weeks on, he was standing under...
Since writing Part One, I’ve realised how ignorant I am on this topic – not completely ignorant, and also not neutral, but in need of a great deal of further inquiry. (Please don’t use the word “re-education.") I’ve got some work to do, and it...
My name is Penelope Wallace. I am a white, middle-aged, middle-class, able-bodied Christian British woman, living in England but with Scottish roots. This isn’t everything I am, but it’s a start. On 10th June 2020 the author JK Rowling posted a blog on trans and gender issues...
In last Saturday’s Guardian Review, John Mullan reviewed AN Wilson’s “The Mystery of Charles Dickens,” and quoted him on a famous section of “Dombey and Son” - (spoiler) “The death of Paul Dombey is so schmaltzy that we simply refuse to be moved, but then, dammit, we...
It's interesting that the guest posts of Stephen Hall and Judith Renton (both of whom to my knowledge read fantasy as adults) chose practical children's adventure stories. I don't want to denigrate the wonderful authors they chose, but maybe in the days when we were growing...
It’s been quite a few months since my last “trials and smiles” post (https://www.penelopewallace.com/trials-and-smiles-of-an-author-7-with-particular-reference-to-the-servants-voice/ ) and maybe it’s time to update readers on progress with book 4. The first thing to say is, Don’t hold your breath. The very fact that the book doesn’t yet have...
Stephen Hall works and lives with his family in Edinburgh, playing board games and walking the dog when not Munroe-bagging. He has been part of my life for a long time, being my younger brother, and is also responsible for the maps in the “Tales...
If you want to start a conversation, just ask for people's views on children's TV or literature! You may not have been expecting a post this week, but I've been grateful to be inundated by several readers (two so far) eager to share their own...
(Apologies to those who tuned in hoping for Children's Literature Part Two: that's next time. This week we're back to the Bible.) A while ago (here: https://www.penelopewallace.com/why-i-get-annoyed-by-the-thirty-third-chapter-of-jeremiah/) I posted a little rant about the apparently unfulfilled prophecies in the prophet Jeremiah. Now it’s the turn of...