Most of us know that bright children frequently read books written for adults, but it’s less commonly recognized that bright adults frequently read books written for children. (Harry Potter, anyone?) No matter how old or how young we are, what unites us as readers is that deep feeling of satisfaction that comes with turning the last page and thinking “Now that was a good book.”
T.H. White’s The Once and Future King, A Wrinkle in Time, Harriet the Spy, and The Lord of the Rings are only a few of the books that have been read by adults and children with equal delight, and have been claimed by both groups as favorites. The element that these books all share are the magic created by a writer who placed highly original characters in a world that was constructed by considering the story, not the age of its readers, nor any underlying didacticism.
The people we hope to have in our new book group are readers who can sink into a children’s book with pleasure and want to talk about it in a community of like-minded bibliophiles, whether they be eight or eighty, whether they live in Peoria or Phnom Penh. Our goal is to host an ongoing conversation in which people from all over the world, adults and children, can unite over books that they all love and want to discuss online.
The books that are featured will fall into the range of readers between the ages of eight and twelve and will be set in countries all around the world. We hope that the magic of literature will help to bring together the inhabitants of far-flung continents, in the same way that the book discussions will bring together people of different generations and different cultures.
This is a book group that exists in whatever timeframe you choose—send your responses while you’re still in your pajamas, while you’re eating lunch, or when you should be doing your homework. Send your comments and respond to other readers whenever you like—it’s that easy. If you don’t like the book that’s been chosen, let us know. If it reminds you of others that you’ve read, tell us. If you don’t like the questions that have been posed about the book, write about the points that are meaningful to you. Suggest titles for future discussion. Argue, discover a new point of view, chat about books—for many of us there’s nothing better than that. Opening a book opens a new world to explore, and a good book makes that world a part of its reader forever. Let’s discover new worlds together through the magic of books.