"Books in the life of a child"

Saxby, H. M. H. M. (1997). Books in the life of a child : bridges to literature and learning / Maurice Saxby, Macmillan Education Australia.

[Reproduced from Amazon.com]

Saxby’s work is filled with a wonderful complexity of seeming contradiction. The text weaves descriptions of the shifting and varied constructions of childhood and reader response together with personal conviction about what is right or true. The power of the “child reader” in the practice of reading also appears to shift. Perhaps Saxby himself provides the best account of his approach to dealing with the conflict:

Eventually, we are forced to take up a philosophical position, governed largely from our own experience as readers, the theories of others, the observation of vast numbers of students at all ages and levels of reading maturity, and the results of classroom practice.” p. 67

Multiple competing viewpoints on the nature of both childhood and reading are presented. The very wealth of ideas presented “about” children place the concept into an interesting power relationship with the theorists. Children in all cases are presented as objects of study rather than as active agents; they are done “to” or “for” and their nature is defined by the theorist. The child may be inherently sinful (Puritans), a blank canvass (John Locke) or good (Rousseau). Theories about text vary from the socio-historical, psychological or sociological to the intertextual, postmodern or deconstructionist. Any idea of absolute truth is thus placed into question, with everything seen within a frame of reference or set of premises. And yet Saxby returns to the conviction that a worthwhile book is one that has something universally true to say “to” children:

There should be an underlying statement, albeit implicit rather than explicit, about some fundamental question of human behaviour, belief or emotion. The experience explored needs to be potentially universal. p. 41

This sentiment appears to imply that what is fundamentally true is both knowable and universal. Additionally, the power balance is reinforced, in that the text speaks to the child; the child does not significantly participate in creating the message of the text.

Ideas of learning are similarly complex:

I am convinced that children learn to read by reading, that texts themselves teach the structures of language and the grammar of narrative, and that not only do we humans live by our own stories but that the stories we hear and read, especially in childhood, help shape our lives and outlook. They provide us with much of our culture. p. vii

In this statement, the power relationship is split between the text itself, and the child’s own practice of reading. And yet:

Readers, especially children, need to be helped to sift opinion and propaganda from what is observably 'true' about human nature and society and what is merely a stereotype. p. viii

and

It is a question of knowing the reader and finding the book that suits the present needs, interests and abilities of that child. p. 37

Saxby appears not to subscribe to reader response theory, in which the child actively selects and sifts material according to his or her own current level of intellectual and emotional development, interest and need. In fact, the approach seems most reminiscent of Rousseau, in whose Emile, the child is the active creator of his / her own education, but within carefully defined and selected boundaries, pre-determined by the older and wiser. The child may learn to read from the act of reading, but requires guidance to understand and interpret the text appropriately.

Interestingly, the power imbalance appears not only to apply to children. The quote above from p. viii applies to all readers, with special reference to children. All readers apparently require guidance, which begs the question of who is qualified to act as guide, and on what basis. Several theories regarding “stages” of reading sophistication are outlined, including the six stages proposed by Jack Thomson. In relation to Thomson’s stages, Saxby opines:

The furore that breaks out in the media from time to time about a writer or a literary work would seem to indicate that not a great many reading adults are able to stand back and dispassionately view a work of fiction as a construct which may even be subversive of widely held values. Few can reject the values, but still appreciate the construct. p. 66

I particularly enjoy this statement, because it not only provides a value statement about the reading / intellectual level of the majority of adult readers (placing Saxby and other critics into a privileged higher observer position), but it also creates an interesting theory about the motivation for censorship and the belief in the power of text to influence children (and others!). Following this statement, the ability to separate values from construct belongs only to the intellectually discerning. Readers thus require expert guidance to reach this elevated level; I am delighted by the question this raises about how and why the privileged few have reached the giddy heights from which they view and guide the rest of the world. Especially given the multiplicity of viewpoints espoused by these privileged few, the problem of the power of text is not solved by this statement; it is merely redirected into a new channel.

Saxby covers a wide variety of topics, from theories about childhood to theories about text. He provides a fascinating guide to the shifting (and yet apparently universal) nature of truth. But there is one quote from Michael Benton that I particularly like, which, for me, highlights the challenges so wonderfully explored throughout:

The subject of 'the reader's response' is the Loch Ness Monster of literary studies. When we set out to capture it, we cannot even be sure that it is there at all, and if we assume that it is, we must admit that the most sensitive probing with the most sophisticated instruments has so far succeeded only in producing pictures of dubious authenticity. p. 67