Colleen Gillard’s “Why the British Tell Better Children’s Stories” talks of the comparisons between British children’s stories and American children’s stories. Colleen uses a slew of examples in her article to show how the British have mastered the concept of telling stories. Stories like “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe”, “Harry Potter”, and Alice in Wonderland” have captivated the minds of young ones with brilliant fantasylands and magical mystery, while American stories such as “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “Huckleberry Finn” are “more notable for their realistic portraits of day-to-day life in the towns and farmlands of the growing frontier” (Gillard). While American’s stories of realism get to the point, they do not live up to the alternative worlds that the British have set up for their readers.

In my opinion, the best movies and books are the ones that accurately set up a universe in which we know somewhat about through the eyes of the main protagonist, but are left with a sense of mystery as to what is really out there. This is what the British do so well with. Think of the Harry Potter novels or the Narnia series: We learn about these alternate realities through the eyes of Harry and the Pevensie children. We’re not simply thrown into the American south like in some American novels. These parallel universes give the children a sense of wonder; something they’ve never seen before. The article mentions a boy who enjoys reading about “naughty animals, doing people things.” Wouldn’t this be a lot more interesting to read about then a boy painting a fence?

While learning about morals through chores and work, the British seem to have a more whimsical way of teaching. The British have no boundaries when it comes to fairytales. As I said before, animals can talk and are human-like. The laws of our world no longer apply. With that being said, why would our rules still apply? As Colleen puts it, “children learn best through hand-on activities [and] process their feelings through metaphorical reenactments.” Heck, even Jesus knew to dumb down the morals of his parables so people come understand them. While Americans are so “in your face” about moral lessons and life teachings, the British seem to let their stories do the talking and trust the audience to figure them out. That’s what keeps the children coming back for more.

Of course, there can’t be any coming back if there is nothing to come back to. That’s why the British have understood that because this world is so new and fresh, there needs to be more than one story. Sequels are something that the British understand. Although there is nothing about it in the article, I believe this is a main reason why children enjoy these stories. Instead of dumping everything into one story, the British can take their time with different aspects of the world because there is more than one of them. Harry Potter seems to do this splendidly but introducing something new and different about Hogwarts in every story. There are even new characters to be introduced to!

The British seem to know what they’re doing when it comes to their stories. American stories are not awful, but they could learn a thing or two about parallel universes, morals, and sequels from the British. It’s why those children keep going back to those stories; because they’re so darn interesting.