Heavy hand on the magic pipes

Press, 3 August 1985, Page 20

Heavy hand on the magic pipes

Pipers at the Gates of Dawn. By Jonathan Cott. Viking, 1985. 301 pp. Bibliography and index. $36.95. (Reviewed by Margaret Quigley) It would be easy, and not quite fair, to say that the title is the best thing about this book. It is certainly an evocative, almost magical, title for what is, unfortunately, a rather pedestrian volume. Jonathan Cott, an American journalist, believes much of the real wisdom of any society has traditionally been passed down in the tales and rhymes which children were told and learnt by heart. He further maintains (and few who read widely in this field would disagree with him) that the best works of children’s literature convey the same wisdom and wonder found in the traditional tales. Much of the best fiction written over the last 50 years has been written for children, and these miniature masterpieces have as much to say to adult readers as many more substantial literary works. For this book Jonathan Cott interviewed six contemporary writers of children’s books, Maurice Sendak, Dr Seuss, Astrid Lindgren, William Steig, P. L. Travers and Chinua Achebe, as well as lona and Peter Opie, collectors and scholars of folk tales, children’s games and language. The transcripts of the seven interviews are framed within separate essays in which Cott reflects on the creative sources for the writers, gives an account of his encounters with them, and attempts a critical evaluation of some of their work. On the dust-jacket there is a quotation from Jan Morris describing this book as “a fascination exploration of the world of children’s literature by one of the very cleverest and most original journalists writing in English today.” But this reviewer was constantly troubled, while reading, by wondering if the book was really worth writing. The heavy solemnity with which marvellous books such as “Where the Wild things Are,” “Mary Poppins,” or Prize pet Hemi’s Pet. By Joan de Hamel. Illustrated by Christine Ross. Reed Methuen, 1985. $12.95. Children are well served by the books being produced for them in New Zealand and by New Zealanders. “Hemi’s Pet” is another addition to the fast-growing library of New Zealand books for the under-12s. It seems set to be successful, having pre-sold 25,000 copies overseas and taking the inaugural A. W. Reed Memorial Children’s Book Award. It is Joan de Hamel’s third children’s book, but perhaps it is Christine Ross, whose mark is most obvious. Her colour wash illustrations of a New Zealand country school and school children complement an original storyline. It is a nice, wholesome story with a happy ending when Hemi’s pet, his little sister, wins a special prize at the school pet show. — Kay Forrester.

“The Cat in the Hat,” are discussed makes one wish he would leave the craftsmanship and magic of those books to speak for themselves. The interviews occasionally offer flashes of insight into the creative process, but more frequently grate with overelaboration of ideas and pretentious language. There is no denying some interest in these deservedly famous writers, but as P. L. Travers, the creator of Mary Poppins said to Cott, “What porridge John Keats had doesn’t matter.”

Good biography or critical writing can help readers to an understanding of some of the deeper levels of a work of literature, but a mish mash of criticism and dialogue, hero worship and childhood recollections such as this

is less helpful than it could have been if the material had been better organised and shaped. On the credit side, this book should help to emphasise the importance of children’s literature, for as well as discussing the richness and complexity of these tales, it shows how the stories we read (or have read to us) in childhood often remain with us all our lives. It pffers, too, some delightful and memorable cameos. A little boy, comiag to the end of the third volume of “Mary Poppins” wrote to P. L. Travers, “Madam, you have sent Mary Poppins away. Madam, I will never forgive you. You have made the children cry.” It is worth reading some verbiage to come across such an eloquent reproach as that.