Kiddie books

I vividly remember my 5th grade class when my teacher, a very open-minded and "awesome teacher" told us to bring in our favorite book from our childhood for reading time the next day. Everyone was shocked, and said that they weren't "real" books. It was at that point, that pivotal point, that we began to realize our childhood wasn't all silly games that unintenionally guided us.

A few years later, while at the Book Stall with my mom, she picked up the Little Prince and announced I had to read it. Skeptical, again in fear that its immaturity would be a nuisance and that it wouldn't have any "value" to me, I didn't read it for another few months. But when I finally picked it up, and started reading, I realized this was no ordinary childrens book.

For those of you who have read the Little Prince, or perhaps the original French version, Le Petit Prince, you would know that the Little Prince has a wild adventure that takes him to Earth, from  his home-asteroid. Along the way, the Little Prince (he remains nameless) encounters a drunkard, a king, a man who spends his life counting stars, and a man who wants to create a map of his asteroid, but who doesn't want to actually explore. I was shocked at how deep the book was, and speculated if children would be able to grasp any of these concepts-- the drunk who drinks to forget he's drunk, or the irony of a map maker who doesn't move from his desk on his lonely asteroid.

Not having the machinery/technology to go back in time and quiz myself, I wonder-- what major social problems can children understand? Many of these problems are complex, especially the realm of politics, but in a child's mind things can be simpler. Maybe children understand that book better than I did.