Are there too many happy endings in children’s literature, asks Ross Montgomery. If we insist on reassuring closure, are we denying children the opportunity to explore more complex issues?
I watched the film Stand By Me recently. There’s a scene in which twelve-year-old Gordie tells his friends a story he’s written about an obese and bullied boy named Lardass. Lardass enters a pie-eating competition, but rigs it so that he can gain long overdue revenge on his tormentors by vomiting theatrically on them.This sets off a dizzying chain reaction of mass vomiting, turning the pie-eating contest into a “complete and total barforama”. Then, to his friends’ surprise, the story ends…
