Childhood reading and intellectual freedom

In the recent sunny weather in the UK I was reminded of a favourite quotation from revered author Peter Dickinson: “Nobody who has not spent a whole sunny afternoon under his bed rereading a pile of comics left over from the previous holidays has any real idea of the meaning of intellectual freedom.” I have mentioned it before, in a piece that explains various aspects of Dickinson and my reading Some Deaths Before Dying by Peter Dickinson Peter Dickinson was a posh boy, the same age as my mother, and he was on holiday from Eton: and still his words would have resonated wholly with a townie girl reading comics in a small house in a big city, on holiday from her state day school. I have kept up a staunch interest in children’s books since my own days as what was then known as a bookish child. I did quite like playing out, and some sports and games, but my favourite thing always was reading, and one of my favourite places in the world was the local library. I have written about these…