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Jun. 9th, 2009 01:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darchildreI am now going to tell you about one of my more ridiculous pet peeves.
It is encapsulated in this book - A Field Guide to Monsters by Johan Olander. I have nothing against the premise, though it's not really my thing. There's nothing wrong with silly made-up monsters and kids like that sort of thing.
My pet peeve comes into play because, in the library, that book is filed in 398.2, which is the Fairy Tales and Folklore section. This is not a fairy tale and it is definitely not folkloric. I mean, make up your own monsters, knock yourself out - but don't put them in the folklore section if they're not actually folklore.
I would have been so pissed if I'd found this book as a kid. I loved folkloric catalogs of monsters and fairies and hidden folk - they gave my world greater texture. I felt like I was learning secrets, important things. That's one of the reasons I read fairy tales too. But this - I would have felt cheated, like I was being condescended to. They're monsters, sure, but they're not real. Every time I see the damned book, that's what I think - how can you give kids a book about monsters that aren't real?
I am wholly aware that this reaction is ridiculous. It's much like my reaction to all the books about fairies in the folklore section that are all pink and sparkly. I feel we do our children a disservice by not teaching them about monsters and fairies as they really are.
And that is my ridiculous pet peeve.
It is encapsulated in this book - A Field Guide to Monsters by Johan Olander. I have nothing against the premise, though it's not really my thing. There's nothing wrong with silly made-up monsters and kids like that sort of thing.
My pet peeve comes into play because, in the library, that book is filed in 398.2, which is the Fairy Tales and Folklore section. This is not a fairy tale and it is definitely not folkloric. I mean, make up your own monsters, knock yourself out - but don't put them in the folklore section if they're not actually folklore.
I would have been so pissed if I'd found this book as a kid. I loved folkloric catalogs of monsters and fairies and hidden folk - they gave my world greater texture. I felt like I was learning secrets, important things. That's one of the reasons I read fairy tales too. But this - I would have felt cheated, like I was being condescended to. They're monsters, sure, but they're not real. Every time I see the damned book, that's what I think - how can you give kids a book about monsters that aren't real?
I am wholly aware that this reaction is ridiculous. It's much like my reaction to all the books about fairies in the folklore section that are all pink and sparkly. I feel we do our children a disservice by not teaching them about monsters and fairies as they really are.
And that is my ridiculous pet peeve.
