Neil Gaiman On Reading And Libraries' Importance

Today I found this inspiring Guardian article by author Neil Gaiman, via MG Siegler's Tumblr. It is really a worthy read, full of insight on the importance of reading, inspiring people to read, and preserving libraries --under any form. The quote chosen by MG Siegler surely got me wanting to read the whole article, but here is another one that got my attention.

 I don't think there is such a thing as a bad book for children. Every now and again it becomes fashionable among some adults to point at a subset of children's books, a genre, perhaps, or an author, and to declare them bad books, books that children should be stopped from reading. I've seen it happen over and over; Enid Blyton was declared a bad author, so was RL Stine, so were dozens of others. Comics have been decried as fostering illiteracy.

It's tosh. It's snobbery and it's foolishness. There are no bad authors for children, that children like and want to read and seek out, because every child is different. They can find the stories they need to, and they bring themselves to stories. A hackneyed, worn-out idea isn't hackneyed and worn out to them. This is the first time the child has encountered it.