LLOYD ALEXANDER: HIS PRYDAIN CHRONICLES AND A MAGAZINE NAMED "CRICKET"

"Fantasy's hardly an escape from reality.  It's a way of understanding it."  

-Lloyd Alexander

Lloyd Chudley Alexander (January 30, 1924 – May 17, 2007) was an American author whose best known contribution to the field of children's literature is the fantasy series, The Prydain Chronicles. (He authored over 40 books. To see a complete listing with reviews, click HERE).


Determined to become a writer and looking for adventure after high school, Alexander decided to enlist in the Army during World War II. While training in Wales, he discovered a history and romanticism that would be the inspiration for many of his books...

“It seemed I recognized faces from all the hero tales of my childhood,” he wrote in a memoir, “My Love Affair With Music” (Crowell, 1960). “Not until years afterwards did I realize I had been given, without my knowing, a glimpse of another enchanted kingdom.”  (source: Alexander's obituary in the NY Times)

The Prydain Chronicles is a five-volume (not-to-be-missed!) series of children's fantasy novels which tell of the adventures of a young man named Taran, who is awarded the humble "honor" of Assistant Pig-Keeper (of an oracular pig, named "Hen Wen"), but dreams of being a grand hero.  He finds himself caught in a struggle between good and evil with the help of his unlikely companions: stubborn Princess Eilonwy; a bard named Fflewddur Fflam; a wild, yet gentle creature called Gurgi; and a dwarf named Doli. The book focuses on Taran's progression from youth to maturity, with the series being loosely based on Welsh mythology. (For an excellent overview and review of each book, CLICK HERE). Ages 10 and up.

The Book of Three (1964)

The Black Cauldron (1965) - Winner of the 1966 Newbery Honor

The Castle of Llyr (1966)

Taran Wanderer (1967)

The High King (1968) - Winner of the 1969 Newbery Medal

Some thoughts from Lloyd Alexander on the importance of writing and reading fantasy:
(Source: The National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance, May 2007)

"When asked how to develop intelligence in young people, Einstein answered: "Read fairy tales. Then read more fairy tales." I can only add: Yes, and the sooner the better. Fairy tales and fantasies nourish the imagination. And imagination supports our whole intellectual and psychological economy. Not only in literature, music, and painting spring from the seedbed of imagination; but, as well, all the sciences, mathematics, philosophies, cosmologies. Without imagination, how could we have invented the wheel or the computer? Or toothpaste? Or nuclear weapons? Or speculate "What if—?" Or have any compassionate sense what it's like to live in another person's skin?


For me, writing fantasy for young people has surely been the most creative and liberating experience of my life. As a literary form, fantasy has let me express my own deepest feelings and attitudes about the world we're all obliged to live in.


A paradox? Creating worlds that never existed as a way to gain some kind of insight into a world that is very real indeed? The paradox is easily resolved. Whatever its surface ornamentation, fantasy that strives to reach the level of durable art deals with the bedrock of human emotions, conflicts, dilemmas, relationships. That is to say: the realities of life.


As adults, we know that life is a tough piece of business. Sometimes the most heroic thing we can do is get out of bed in the morning. I think it's just as tough for young people. On an emotional level, a child's anguish and a child's joy are as intense as our own. Young people recognize their own inner lives while they journey through a world completely imaginary.


I don't mean to imply that works of realism haven't the same profound effect on young readers. Of course they do. More often than not, however, realism tends to deal with material of immediate, current interest; with, to use a word much overused, what is relevant. All well and good. But there's a difference between what is relevant and what is merely topical. The topical goes away after a while, to be replaced by the next fashionable subject; the newest literary disease of the month, as it were. The best fantasy it seems to me, is permanently relevant. Because it deals metaphorically with basic human situations, it always has something to say to us. Also, I think that fantasy offers a certain vividness and high spiritedness unique to itself. We shouldn't underestimate the value of sheer fun, delight, and excitement. In any art, boredom is not a virtue.


Dealing with the impossible, fantasy can show us what may be really possible. If there is grief, there is the possibility of consolation; if hurt, the possibility of healing; and above all, the curative power of hope. If fantasy speaks to us as we are, it also speaks to us as we might be."


Lloyd Alexander was also one of the creators of children's literary magazine Cricket, which is an illustrated literary magazine for children published in the United States. Cricket magazine publishes original stories, poems, folk tales, articles and illustrations by notable authors and artists. On the last page of each issue is the "Old Cricket Says" column, in which Old Cricket points out a bit of wisdom or a witticism, or introduces themes to be explored in the upcoming issues of the magazine. This recurring column has been ghostwritten by a number of authors and editors who worked for Cricket, but a preponderance of them were written by Lloyd Alexander until his death.

CRICKET now offers 14 magazines for different age groups, including Babybug (up to 3 years old), Ladybug (2-6), Spider (6-9) and Cicada (for teenagers).


CRICKET WEBSITE LINK

GOOD BOOKS FOR PRETEEN BOYS

My sister suggested I follow up my post GOOD BOOKS FOR TEEN GIRLS with one for teenage boys. But first, I'd like to post a list for preteen boys, because I can't stress enough the importance of getting your boys to discover excellent chapter books early on, so that they stick with it during their busy high school years.  

There are several challenges with getting boys to read.   Boys can be reluctant readers, partly due to the fact that they like action and are risk takers - not something that is necessarily fulfilled by curling up with a good book.  But I think even boys that are eager readers have a hard time sitting still and focusing on a book when there are things like baseballs, basketballs, bugs, bike riding, and buddies vying for their time and attention.

Girls from a young age, on the other hand, tend to be more people-oriented than action oriented. (That must be why we girls love our Jane Austen books!)  I recently came across an interesting article on raising boys vs. girls and their differences, HERE.

Growing up, both of my sons shared a penchant for Legos, action figures, karate, bike riding, exploring, and playing in the mud.  Pretty much typical boys, I'd say.

But in regards to their individual interests, they were pretty different.  My older son was an avid reader, loved science, drawing (especially dinosaurs, sealife, and space), and eventually started making stop-motion movies with our video camera!  My second son - who is four and a half years younger than his older brother, with a sister between them - was active and a reluctant reader.  As a youngster, his idea of art was completing dot-to-dot books. He loved climbing (not just swinging) on our swingset, doing headstands, and playing with balls, trains, and cars - moving on later to a love of the game of basketball, math and numbers, and collecting things (especially basketball cards).  

GOOD MIDDLE READERS FOR BOYS:

Pictured below are books for boys ages 9-12, that I listed in a past post "CHAPTER BOOKS MY SONS LOVED", which can be read HERE. Scroll down to read about some others I've added to my list...

  

  

   

    

Books about SCIENCE and THE WAY THINGS WORK (see my list, HERE)

REDWALL series, by Brian Jacques (read my past post HERE)

MORE CHAPTER BOOKS MY SONS LOVED (for ages 9-12):

THE INDIAN IN THE CUPBOARD series, by Lynne Reid Banks. Exciting, absorbing, and thought provoking story, alive with magic as two boys discover they can bring their toys to life by putting them in an old medicine cabinet that one of them receives - along with a small plastic Indian - for his birthday. They are faced with the responsibility of this tiny person and the consequences of their actions.

THE NEVERENDING STORY by Michael Ende.  Much better than the movie! Bastian embarks on a wild adventure when he enters the magical world of Fantastica, a doomed land filled with dragons, giants, and monsters, and risks his life to save Fantastica by going on a very dangerous quest.

THE SUGAR CREEK GANG (series) by Paul Hutchens.  I had these books recommended by my husband's dad, who grew up on them in the 1940's.  They are like a Christian version of THE HARDY BOYS mysteries. The narrator of the series is Bill Collins, a red-headed freckle-faced boy, who is an only child.  Bill and his "gang" of six friends start the series as 10-year-old 5th graders. By the end of the series, they have aged several years and Bill has picked up a little sister named Charlotte Ann.

   

DETECTIVES IN TOGAS by Henry Winterfield. In this delightful history-mystery, seven boys in Ancient Rome solve strange crimes . . . thanks to some help from their cranky teacher, a little bit of logic, and a lot of amusing misadventure. Yes, Rufus wrote "CAIUS IS A DUMBBELL" on his tablet at school, but no, he did not break into the schoolroom, did not tie up his teacher, and certainly did not paint his slur about Caius on the Temple of Minerva (even if it is in Rufus's own handwriting). Rufus is doomed unless his six classmates can find out who is really responsible. Every hour seems to bring a new, confusing clue . . . until the boys finally stumble upon someone who is not what he appears to be. Also good - MYSTERY OF THE ROMAN RANSOM.

 
THANK YOU, JACKIE ROBINSON by Barbara Cohen (ages 9-12)  This compelling novel isn't just about baseball, but about the warm friendship between a 10-year-old Jewish boy named Sam and an older African American man.  This man, Davy, is a cook at Sam's mother's New Jersey inn.  It's 1947, and they both love the Brooklyn Dodgers.  And they both love Jackie Robinson.  Davy is a cook at Sam's mother's inn.  When Davy has a heart attack, Sam musters up his courage and gets past many obstacles to get Jackie Robinson's autograph on a baseball for Davy, somehow convinced that the ball with make him better.