Children, Reading
The Economist has a list of Children's bestsellers for the year. They also contrast what is popular in Britain with what's been selling here in the United States. Over in Britain they're selling lots of 'annuals' - large collections of comics chock full of good humor. Here in the U.S., JK Rowling and Lemony Snicket books seem to be doing rather well.
I was fortunate enough to live in the U.S. from ages five to ten thus being groomed in the world of Spiderman and Batman, but reading these annuals was a complete surprise when I arrived in Kenya to finish off elementary school. Because Kenya was colonized by the Brits and because my elementary (primary, as they say) school was British, I soon found myself digging through Beano, Beezer and The Bash Street Kids.
If we could use comics as a lense into culture in this case we'd find that the comics read by the British heavily emphasize wit and humor where the American ones are all about fantasy. There are noteworthy exceptions - anyone remember The Tick? But its existence is noteworthy precisely because it was surrounded by the Spidermans, Avengers, Batmans, Dr Dooms, and Dare Devils.
So why so much fantasy on this side of the Atlantic? I have a sense for it but would find it difficult to articulate.
2:48:33 PM 
|
