Quote:
Originally Posted by ownedbycats
The Saddle Club (kid's series about horses from the 1990s) updated some of their earlier books to change references to cassettes and the like to CDs.
This also produced a bit of a funny snarl in the first book. The original version had a character buy ten cassettes at $6-7 each, and wipe out the $65 she had saved up for something else. The newer edition has her buy ten CDs at $10-12 each... except she still only had 65 dollars to begin with.  |
Updates to kids’ books is one of my pet peeves. They never work, for one. Too many inconsistencies and implausibilities result. Two, the books can end up having little resemblance to the original story. Three, it frequently also involves dumbing down.
And finally, why, why, why?
Let the kid read something set in a slightly earlier time. Could be fun. They could pick up some background. Exercise a few additional chops when interpreting the material.
Yeah, yeah, I’m a codger. As a kid, I happily read books set in all sorts of eras which had been written as contemporary without a flicker of an eyelash, when I wasn’t trudging to school in the snow that is. It was all fodder to my maw. So many of my childhood favorites have been absolutely ruined by updates. Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden in particular, I’m looking at you. But it’s not limited to them.