More on Tender Morsels
Recommended yesterday by Meg Rosoff for mature readers, Margo Lanagan’s Tender Morsels is exciting predictable controversy in Britain and has revived the age-banding debate.
Philip Pullman is one of a number of authors to comment:
Designers at Random House have given Lanagan’s novel one cover illustration for younger readers, while another has been chosen for the adult edition being published by Jonathan Cape. Pullman feels the mysterious cover portrait picked for a young audience is likely to draw readers in without giving much information. He does not believe, though, that children’s writers should steer clear of tough material.
“I don’t think there should be areas that children’s books can’t deal with. Why should there be, given that children are likely to encounter much stronger subjects in real life, ranging from divorce – which once used to be something terrible and awful that you must not talk about – to drug trafficking and sex?”
