In an interview on Books for Children

Tell me about your first choice, The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde.

This was the first sad book I really loved. I’m sure most people know the story, but for those who don’t, it’s about the affection of a bird for this prince who is a statue, and the fact that the swallow doesn’t want to leave the prince. The swallow stays too long and dies of cold. It’s really, really heartbreaking. But for some reason you want to read it again and again. It’s a sort of an extraordinary love story. It really is exquisitely written.

What do you think it is about sad books that makes, us want to read them again and again?

I think the books that really make a difference are the ones that touch the deepest part of you. We like to laugh and we need to laugh. But I think we also know we can feel loss and we can feel pain. And we can empathise with other people’s loss and pain. Maybe this is the way we can feel we are not alone. If you read about feelings of loss and pain in a book you can relate to it.

My book War Horse is a case in point. It’s been made into this extraordinary play with the horses been played by giant puppets. If you go to the theatre you can see 1,000 people coming out of the performance and a large proportion of them have been crying their eyes out for the last two hours. They identify with the great sadness of the First World War. It’s a release for them to cry in the same way it’s a great release for us to read a book and feel both grief and joy.

Some would argue that children shouldn’t be reading books that make them cry and feel sad. What would you say?

I think it is deeply patronising to assume that children only like to have laughter. It’s a complete misunderstanding of the human condition to think understanding grief somehow suddenly begins when you are an adult and before that we must just be amused. The fact is that children have to face, and do face, joy and losses and that should be reflected in what they read. Otherwise what they read will simply be superficial. We need superficial from time to time but we also need what resonates deeply.

When some people talk to children it’s almost as if they are talking to kids in a pram. They put on a silly voice and want to make them gurgle and smile. We somehow don’t grow out of it. But there comes a point when the children grow out of it for you, because they start looking at the world around them and they know it’s a place which is complicated. Happy families are fine for when you are little but they don’t always exist in real life.

Children look around them and they can see growing difficulties in the world that they are going to have to come to terms with…whether it’s to do with war, or the environment, or whatever. All these things are on the television. Whether we like it or not children take it on board and a book has got to reflect that.

In an interview on Children’s books for Christmas

This was the first sad book I really loved. I’m sure most people know the story, but for those who don’t, it’s about the affection of a bird for a prince who is a statue. The swallow doesn’t want to leave the prince, stays too long and dies of cold. It’s really, really heartbreaking. But for some reason you want to read it again and again. It’s a sort of extraordinary love story, and really is exquisitely written.

What is it about sad books that makes us want to read them again and again?

I think the books that really make a difference are the ones that touch the deepest part of you. We like to laugh and we need to laugh. But we also know we can feel loss and we can feel pain. And we can empathise with other people’s loss and pain. Maybe this is the way we feel we are not alone. If you read about feelings of loss and pain in a book, you can relate to it.

My book War Horse is a case in point. It has been made into this extraordinary play with the horses played by giant puppets. If you go to the theatre you can see a thousand people coming out of the performance, and a large proportion of them will have been crying their eyes out for the last two hours. They identify with the great sadness of the First World War. It’s a release for them to cry, in the same way that it’s a release for us to read a book and feel both grief and joy.

Some would argue that children shouldn’t be reading books that make them cry and feel sad. What would you say?

I think it is deeply patronising to assume that children only like to laugh. It’s a complete misunderstanding of the human condition to think that understanding grief suddenly begins when you are an adult, and before that we must just be amused. The fact is that children have to face – and do face – both joy and loss, and that should be reflected in what they read. Otherwise what they read will simply be superficial. We need the superficial from time to time, but we also need what resonates deeply.

When some people talk to children it’s almost as if they are talking to kids in a pram. They put on a silly voice and want to make them gurgle and smile. We somehow don’t grow out of it. But there comes a point when children grow out of it for you, because they start looking at the world around them and know it’s a complicated place. Happy families are fine for when you are little, but they don’t always exist in real life.

Children look around them, and they can see growing difficulties in the world that they are going to have to come to terms with – whether it’s to do with war or the environment or whatever. All these things are on television. Whether we like it or not, children take it on board and a book has got to reflect that.

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Alice Bell, science writer, recommends: