Jess

B. The Absence of Dark Analogies

If Christians retreat entirely from this genre, the field is left open to other worldviews. When imagination is nourished exclusively by stories that embrace nihilism, despair, or moral relativism, those are the "analogies" that become "encoded" in the child's mind.

By providing a book that affirms goodness and... See more

When you’ve made something heavy—something that stands on its own—you don’t need validation. You just know, because you feel its weight in your hands .

The novel is a tangible, impressive achievement. Use the weight of the novel's process to validate the weight of your theological thoughts.

Because 500 of the first 1,000 copies went to UK libraries, the book’s first "influencers" were actually children's librarians .

3. The Library "Waiting List" Effect

Since there were so few retail copies, most kids discovered Harry through school or local libraries.

An interviewer once asked Dahl where his “extraordinary ideas” came from. Dahl’s answer:

They always, of course, start with some tiny germ. Somewhere. And you rattle it around and hope for the best and build up the story... 4

Beginning in 1945, Dahl would write out “germs” for future stories in his “Idea books.”

One of Dahl’s “Idea Books”

What did... See more

If British children gathered in the glow of the kitchen hearth to hear stories about magic swords and talking bears, American children sat at their mother’s knee listening to tales larded with moral messages about a world where life was hard, obedience emphasized, and Christian morality valued. Each style has its virtues, but the British approach... See more

I wonder if we’d know what we do about who Sylvia Plath was, or Franz Kafka or Orwell, or even Emerson if it weren’t for their extensive journals and diaries. Recorded like memory capsules, in their voices with their own eyes. You may not be Kafka, but you possess the magic to write if you are lucky, so how can you do nothing about it? I’ve... See more

The "Hurry Up" Pressure: Kids would pressure their friends to finish the book faster so the next person on the list (often another friend) could get it. This created a forced, rapid-fire conversation cycle within classrooms.