Look and Learn
Here's the kind of thing we got given for Christmas in ancient times:
I always looked forward to getting books for Christmas. This year I was given several which I know I'll enjoy. Emily operates using the philosophy "Those books won't read themselves, you know" and with great consideration read her way through the copy I've been given of Bill Bryson's Neither Here Nor There, starting it just before lunch and finishing it sometime before the Queen's speech.
To digress a moment, no, I didn't watch the Queen's Speech and indeed have never seen it. There are many traditions in our family, but that's not one of them. Emily watched it later on Youtube as a gesture of teenage rebellion.
Back to Look and Learn. Now then, as a child I would read anything you put in front of me. I wouldn't go anywhere, no matter how interesting, without an emergency book in case there was an empty five minutes of dullness where I could read instead.
And I know that for a while we subscribed to Look and Learn magazine. And I suspect I was given many of its annuals - well - annually. I was the kind of child of whom relatives would think "oh, Daphne will like Look and Learn, she likes learning things." I know I read them all: as I said, I read everything.
In general, I remember lots about the books of my childhood - they were a world as real to me as the real one. Alice in Wonderland. The House at Pooh Corner. Jill Has Two Ponies. Strangers at the Farm School. The Wind in the Willows. Carrots at Orchard End. Little House in the Big Woods. I could go on listing them until morning. I read lots of fiction, and lots of non-fiction too: I have particularly fond memories of Other People's Children, which was a book about the lives led by children in different countries. I've still got it, of course. I've still got them all.
So, looking in Wikipedia, I am told that the premise of Look and Learn was "to delight and inspire the imaginations of its young readers".
And it clearly had lots of articles about things that would interest me - the World Wildlife Fund - - space travel - - geography - - the farming community - -
But I can't remember anything about any of them. Because Look and Learn was presented in a worthy-but-dull format that coated everything in a middle-class isn't-education-interesting soup.
Yes, I read it, I know. But it was boring as shit.
I looked, but I didn't learn.
I always looked forward to getting books for Christmas. This year I was given several which I know I'll enjoy. Emily operates using the philosophy "Those books won't read themselves, you know" and with great consideration read her way through the copy I've been given of Bill Bryson's Neither Here Nor There, starting it just before lunch and finishing it sometime before the Queen's speech.To digress a moment, no, I didn't watch the Queen's Speech and indeed have never seen it. There are many traditions in our family, but that's not one of them. Emily watched it later on Youtube as a gesture of teenage rebellion.
Back to Look and Learn. Now then, as a child I would read anything you put in front of me. I wouldn't go anywhere, no matter how interesting, without an emergency book in case there was an empty five minutes of dullness where I could read instead.
And I know that for a while we subscribed to Look and Learn magazine. And I suspect I was given many of its annuals - well - annually. I was the kind of child of whom relatives would think "oh, Daphne will like Look and Learn, she likes learning things." I know I read them all: as I said, I read everything.
In general, I remember lots about the books of my childhood - they were a world as real to me as the real one. Alice in Wonderland. The House at Pooh Corner. Jill Has Two Ponies. Strangers at the Farm School. The Wind in the Willows. Carrots at Orchard End. Little House in the Big Woods. I could go on listing them until morning. I read lots of fiction, and lots of non-fiction too: I have particularly fond memories of Other People's Children, which was a book about the lives led by children in different countries. I've still got it, of course. I've still got them all.
So, looking in Wikipedia, I am told that the premise of Look and Learn was "to delight and inspire the imaginations of its young readers".
And it clearly had lots of articles about things that would interest me - the World Wildlife Fund - - space travel - - geography - - the farming community - -
But I can't remember anything about any of them. Because Look and Learn was presented in a worthy-but-dull format that coated everything in a middle-class isn't-education-interesting soup.
Yes, I read it, I know. But it was boring as shit.
I looked, but I didn't learn.
posted by Daphne at 12:32 am
3 Comments:
I wasn't allowed comics as a child (teacher parents), so I was told I wanted Look and Learn every week.
For me it went in the same box as Blue Peter (which I detest to this day) - more school.
I quite liked the Trigan Empire strip they sneaked into the back of Look and Learn. There was another one about First World War flying aces. Can't remember the name.
oooh the best christmas presents for me are books for sure. I got 14 this christmas, a bumper stack, meaning people are finaly listening to me!
I'm so looking forward to reading them all.
merry christmas to you!
x
Thanks to both of you for your comments - hope you enjoy the books, Honey.
Malc - that old idea that children shouldn't read comics really annoys me. I think if they enjoy reading SOMETHING, then they'll learn that reading is fun, and they can move onto other stuff later. But if they find reading dull, there's no hope.
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