THE WONDER OF STORY
In her book, "In Search of Wonder," Katherine Paterson describes three ways that Wonder should be present in a children's book:
First there is the Wonder of nature and human nature - that is the setting and the characters.
| ASLAN |
Such a story for me, would be "The Lion, the Witch,and the Wardrobe." As a child I remember feeling a great desire to be in this land of Narnia, where trees walked, animals talked, and children had the power to save the world.
Next there is the Wonder of language- the telling of the tale.
Think about Beatrix Potter's language in Jemima Puddleduck. She explains to a passing gentleman that she is not lost, but simply looking for a nesting place where her eggs will be safe from the farmer's wife, who always takes them away and gives them to a hen to hatch. She complains about the "superfluous" hen. Magnificent word!
And what about those SOPORIFIC lettuces in McGregor's garden?
"It is said that the effect of eating too much lettuce is soporific. I have never felt sleepy after eating lettuces; but then I am not a rabbit. They certainly had a very soporific effect upon the Flopsy Bunnies."
Is it any WONDER that these stories with such rich and melodic language and enchanting settings are still classics?
Finally, there is the Wonder behind and beyond the story - "the meaning of this story that ties us to the mystery of the meaning of our life and all of creation."
Paterson tell us that C.S. Lewis experienced this kind of Wonder after reading Squirrel Nutkin.
"After reading it, he was filled
with desire, for what
he knew not, maybe Milton’s enormous bliss of
Eden was
the
best way to explain the feeling that came over him.
“I
can
only describe
it as
the Idea of Autumn. To be enamored of a
season – fantastic as that may seem.
"He
went back to the book again and again, not to gratify the desire (that would be
impossible, for how can one possess autumn?) but
to reawaken it”
