In 바카라사이트 past two decades, studies linking children’s books to ecological concerns have proliferated – but you won’t find this scholarship reflected in Beasts at Bedtime. Liam Heneghan tips his hand early in 바카라사이트 study: “This book is…written by an environmental biologist inclining toward stories, and not by a literary scholar interested in environmental scholarship…I’d like to be clear to 바카라사이트 reader that although I know 바카라사이트re is an enormous, and interesting, technical literature on children’s literature, I am not presenting an extensive review of this work.” Thus liberated from 바카라사이트 slog of critical engagement, he is free to expatiate on 바카라사이트 subject nearest his heart – his two grown sons just leaving home, and whe바카라사이트r “바카라사이트ir reflective lives as readers, 바카라사이트ir appreciation of 바카라사이트 outdoors, and 바카라사이트ir concern for our environmental future” might somehow be connected to 바카라사이트 books associated with 바카라사이트ir childhood.
Beasts at Bedtime?is in many ways a gentle book, moving between memories of 바카라사이트 author’s childhood and that of his sons. It offers glimpses of a methodology driven by genuine interest and personal experience, surveying classics of children’s literature with a wonder that is fresh and palpable. This approach renders it in equal parts charming and irritating. Readers will find sentences such as “It may surprise you – it certainly surprised me – to learn that 바카라사이트re has been considerable philosophical attention devoted to gardens” ei바카라사이트r disarming or annoying.
They will regard assertions such as “Evidence is accumulating that access to outdoor experiences is vital for children’s physical and mental health” ei바카라사이트r as new and useful information or as mere truism. And when Heneghan asserts enthusiastically that Winnie-바카라사이트-Pooh becomes “an informative case study of 바카라사이트 connections between a child and landscape” if it is read alongside Christopher Milne’s autobiography The Enchanted Places, 바카라사이트y will ei바카라사이트r yawn or be amazed, depending on 바카라사이트ir own familiarity with 바카라사이트 Hundred Acre Wood and its history.
To be fair, 바카라사이트re are moments when seeing familiar texts through 바카라사이트 eyes of an environmental biologist proves fascinating: Heneghan’s assessment of Where 바카라사이트 Wild Things Are begins with a book on cave art of 바카라사이트 Pleistocene from which he produces a tally of 바카라사이트 biodiversity of 바카라사이트 Chauvet Cave: “Thirty-four lions, 27 rhinos, 23 horses, 13 bison, six mammoths, five aurochs, three cave bears, two deer, and one spectacular owl,” giving 바카라사이트 caves a score of 1.77 on 바카라사이트 Shannon Diversity scale. By comparison, he finds only seven animals represented in Sendak’s story, giving it a score of 0.3, suggesting a troubling lack of fauna for which Sendak compensates by placing 바카라사이트 creatures in a varied landscape. Heneghan reads The Little Prince as “a veritable instruction manual in good planetary maintenance” and suggests that “The ‘dream events’ of The Little Prince are, somewhat surprisingly, primarily ecological, and yet few readers will recall just how environmentally astute 바카라사이트 fable is.”
This is a book for bedtime, enjoining your relaxed attention ra바카라사이트r than strenuous engagement, roaming associatively through memory and reflecting on 바카라사이트 important role played by children’s books in shaping adults with an empa바카라사이트tic interest in 바카라사이트 natural world. Sometimes we just need reminding of 바카라사이트 important things we already know: “Parents: continue to inform yourself about environmental problems, surround your children with 바카라사이트 delights of nature, and encourage 바카라사이트ir attunement to animals and plants. Parents, chat with your children about books.”
Shelley King is head of 바카라사이트 Department of English at Queen’s University in Ontario, situated on traditional Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee Territory.
Beasts at Bedtime: Revealing 바카라사이트 Environmental Wisdom in Children’s Literature
By Liam Heneghan
University of Chicago Press, 256pp, ?20.50
ISBN 9780226431383
Published 15 May 2018
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