Imaginary Kingdoms: On the Power of Literature That Speaks to Children and Adults Alike ‹ Literary Hub

Indeed all children's worlds are an inextricable mixture of fantasy and reality. We all have our own personal memories of our childhood-not to mention stories about the imagined worlds of other childhoods. One child I know of (not mine) when, about two-and-a-half, disappeared under the table at a motorway café and reappeared to announce that he and his imaginary friend Dees (making his first appearance on this occasion) had been parking their yaks. During the ensuing year it turned out that Dees had relatives with further yaks, so that whenever he did not want to do something (such as going to the dentist) he would explain that he had 93 yaks to park before he could enter. This, naturally, might take some time . . . Another child-a girl confined to her bed for two years from the age of 12 and told by her doctors that she might never walk normally again-composed dramatic short stories, plays and even operas (an art-form which she had never encountered).