The Happy Prince , perhaps the most exquisite of all fairy tales, I was cautioned against letting her bring in a book that mentioned God. But it s Oscar Wilde , I said, thinking surely his credentials as famous playwright and famous homosexual would mitigate against the regrettable God matter. Apparently, however, many parents had complained whenever the subject of God had come up at school. The Happy Prince need not apply. Parents regularly express concern about violence and death in books, about anything that could be considered scary, and they do an enormous amount of censoring at home.
TV time is limited, junk food is banned.
These are careful, concerned parents. But few seem equally concerned about the dangers of trivial stories and bad prose. Children need to hear beautiful language if they are to speak and write beautifully. They need to hear stories of love and courage and joy and sorrow so their imaginations are fired and their hearts expanded. They need to hear the language of Rudyard Kipling, the whimsy of A. A. Milne, the sorrow of Oscar Wilde, the mystery of Hans Christian Andersen, the wisdom of E. B. White, the terror of the Brothers Grimm, the wildness of Dr. Suess .