Children and Reading Books

On Substack a couple months ago, I stumbled upon an old video of Roald Dahl. He was walking the interviewer through his home and talking about his writing routine. At one point, he was asked about the difficulty of writing books for children:

"Well I think that they take the books far more seriously than adults. If you read a novel, a goodish novel, you read it, you enjoy it, you put it down, and that’s it. And then you go and look for the next. If a child picks up a book and likes it, that’s not the end of it you know. It’s read at least four, five, and sometimes fifteen times, and each time it’s got to stand up to that. Sooner or later some of them finish by knowing them by heart.” —Roald Dahl

His words describe my seven-year-old daughter perfectly. The Magician’s Nephew, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory…she never tires from reading these books. And yes, she does seem to know them by heart.

Give it a watch.