Wisest Thing I've Read Today

From Guy Dammann’s June posting on the Guardian's Culture Vulture Blog about the continuous revision of Enid Blyton’s UK-ubiquitous novels:

Although there was once a time when both genres [fiction for adults and fiction for children] were seen as vehicles for moral education, with the emergence of the novel as an autonomous artform these values have more or less completely disappeared from adult literature. But for children’s fiction the scheme remains pretty much intact - albeit with the model of moral education by and large replaced by a concern with psychological development.

In American children’s literature, I think this attitude is particularly reflected in the importance that reviewers put on "a sense of hope."