From: Maia <maia>
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2000 12:27:05 -0700

I found the Oxenbury at my library last night, and am curious to know if anyone else found Oxenbury's Alice a little skimpy. ? It's ironic that I too probably would have felt most comfortable with these illustrations as a child (they are neither threatening nor obscure), but that as an adult they make me edgy. I think it's because Alice looks like a miniature Darryl Hannah. I couldn't tell what age her Alice is supposed to be... but she reminded me, in an odd way, of all those Gap teen advertisements.

(And no, I am NOT saying that kids are supposed to be sexless or whatnot, but rather, that little kids shouldn't have to presented with model-like images in elementary school. Anybody else notice how tiny this Alice's ankles, legs and wrists are, and how big and perfect her hair?)

Maia

-maia at littlefolktales.org www.littlefolktales.org the Spirited Review: www.littlefolktales.org/reviews

To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish: these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. - CS Lewis

To be obsessed with an appearance of maturity, to reject the child and the adolescent in all their passion and compassion, these things mark an individual who has rejected his or her own soul and root. - Maia
Received on Thu 19 Oct 2000 02:27:05 PM CDT