Children’s Books

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30578, 22 October 1964, Page 20

Children’s Books

Sir, —A recent article on your literary page drew attention to the fact that in Australia, as in New Zealand a kind of censorship exists in children’s libraries: the works of Enid Blyton, Captain Johns, author of the “Biggies” books, and Richmal Crompton, author of the “William” books, are “banned.” Your article described Sir Robert Menzies’s humorous defence of the worthy Miss Blyton when the question was raised in the Australian Parliament. In New Zealand it has not yet got as far as Parliament, but the policy has sometimes been publicly queried. A check reveals that at the Canterbury Public Library the “William” books (eight titles) are now permitted to our innocent young, but a total ban on Enid Blyton and the “Biggies” books still prevails. Perhaps a “pay section” should be introduced in the children’s libraries, as in the adult; and then our children, at a penny a time, might be allowed to indulge their vices, as their elders indulge themselves with detective fiction and bestsellers.—Yours etc., H.L.G. October 21, 1964.