When I was a child, ….

'When I was a child, I speak as a child, I understood as a child, I
thought as a child,….'
There were many children books and magazines that I read when I was a
child. I loved cartoons very much. My father bought many cartoons as
Mickey Mouse, TinTin, Lucky Luke, etc. We were familiar with
'Knowledge', 'Finding Out' and 'Look and Learn' magazines. These were
about knowledge and science. We also liked questions and answers
columns in the magazines. In this column, the children could ask any
questions to the editor and the editor answered their problems and
their curious questions. I was interested to read their questions and
answers very much. I believed the editors might be careful to answer
their questions. Sometimes I saw the questions from children as 'Can
we buy all?', 'Can we give the lie to our parents?' or 'The dead is
the end of all?' or 'The science can all explain?', etc. The questions
in the children' mind were very exciting. The children might learn the
answers and they kept it in their heart as I did when I was a child.
So, the editors had to answer their questions seriously. As from the
poem; Rainbow, 'The child is father of the man.' It was very important
to consider seriously their questions and their curiosity.
The children magazines' editors were educated people. I believed they
were scholars or they had many experiences of reading books. They knew
the state of children' mind and they considered the feelings of the
children. The most of the readers of the children' books might be
children. So they knew that they had to be careful to choose articles
and cartoons for the children. The children' mind were very pure and
honest. The children books' writers wrote their books with
understanding of children. I admired and had a high regard for their
works. Because of their works I believed I grew up with their good
lessons and messages. If I had a chance I wanted to write down the
names of the writers and cartoonists I had been grown up with going
through my childhood with respect. Publishing children books were
more responsible than publishing other kinds. I admitted I could not
write children books or stories because I was afraid if my writings
would be had a bad effect on children.
There were novels for children as 'Alice in Wonderland', 'The Wind in
the Williows', 'Pinocchio', 'The Prince and the Pauper', 'Huckellberry
Fin', 'Tom Sawyer', etc. These novels were written by great writers;
Lewis Carroll, Kenneth Grahame, Carlo Collodi, Mark Twain, ….. They
were famous and well-known writers. But they wrote novels for
children. It was very impressive for their writings. The more I grew
up, the more I admired their works. Because of their works, I knew the
knowledge of our world, our nature world, animals. We did not like
disciplines and duties from our parents and teachers. But from these
stories we could take more examples and warnings.
There were also in Burma the writers and cartoonists for children were
not that less. There were stories about Buddhism and our culture for
children. The Burmese children were grown up with these stories. Phay
Thein (U Phay Thein – (1924 – 2009) who drew many cartoons with the
knowledge of Buddhism and our tradition. Ba Kyi (U Ba Kyi – (1912 –
2000) was a famous artist who drew many illustrations with the themes
of Buddha stories which gave us a lot of knowledge of our Buddhist
way of life. Ludu U Hla (U Hla – (1910 – 1982) was a famous story
teller to the children and he wrote many stories from different
nations of our country. There were more many cartoonists and writers
in Burma who gave children happiness, joy, fun and also information of
our world. I wanted to write more about them later.
When I was a child, I did not see how great these books would be. But
I now understood and realized the value of these books. I hoped the
children nowadays would appreciate the children books and one day they
grew older they might be understood the worth of their readings.