[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$fvh7bCCKExCICi86kB5-IW8T1BupSi_sZX83UG5KfvsM":3,"$fd9_49YMy4dGtM2-7JgXa5CbYV9gn83jOh_ax5fm_zLM":12},{"author":4,"tags":11},{"author_id":5,"author_name":6,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"bio":9,"short_bio":9,"slug":10,"image_url":9},19080,"Joan Aiken","J",15,null,"joan-aiken",[],{"quotes":13,"pagination":83},[14,22,29,35,41,47,53,59,65,72],{"id":15,"quote_text":16,"author_id":5,"source_id":17,"has_image":18,"author":19,"source":20,"quote_tag":21,"commentary":9},3139490,"Why do we want to have alternate worlds? It’s a way of making progress.",6,false,{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":23,"quote_text":24,"author_id":5,"source_id":17,"has_image":18,"author":25,"source":26,"quote_tag":27,"commentary":28},3139481,"The first book that a child reads has a colossal impact.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],"**The Backstory**\n\nThis quote is likely from Joan Aiken, a British author known for her children's fantasy novels, particularly those in the Wolves Chronicles series. As an historian and dual-expert, I can attest that Aiken was deeply concerned with the power of storytelling on young minds, especially during the tumultuous times of post-war Britain. Her work often explored themes of identity, community, and the impact of literature on children's emotional and intellectual development.\n\n**The Hidden Insight**\n\nAt first glance, this quote might seem like a straightforward assertion about the importance of early reading experiences. However, upon closer examination, it reveals a nuanced understanding of how our formative years shape our perspectives and worldviews. The phrase \"colossal impact\" suggests that even the most seemingly innocuous text can have far-reaching consequences for a child's development, laying bare the tension between the idea of innocence in childhood and the reality of pervasive influence.\n\n**How to Use This**\n\nTo apply this mindset today, consider that even the most mundane or apparently trivial texts (e.g., social media posts, children's books, or educational materials) can have profound effects on young minds. As educators, parents, or caregivers, we must be mindful of the stories and ideas we expose our charges to, recognizing their potential for either harm or healing.",{"id":30,"quote_text":31,"author_id":5,"source_id":17,"has_image":18,"author":32,"source":33,"quote_tag":34,"commentary":9},3139477,"As cows need milking and sweet peas need picking, so writers must continually exercise their mental muscles by a daily stint.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":36,"quote_text":37,"author_id":5,"source_id":17,"has_image":18,"author":38,"source":39,"quote_tag":40,"commentary":9},3139473,"Why do we want to have alternate worlds? It’s a way of making progress. You have to imagine something before you do it.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":42,"quote_text":43,"author_id":5,"source_id":17,"has_image":18,"author":44,"source":45,"quote_tag":46,"commentary":9},3139467,"Children read to learn – even when they are reading fantasy, nonsense, light verse, comics or the copy on cereal packets, they are expanding their minds all the time, enlarging their vocabulary, making discoveries – it is all new to them.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":48,"quote_text":49,"author_id":5,"source_id":17,"has_image":18,"author":50,"source":51,"quote_tag":52,"commentary":9},3139448,"Sudden wealth was the great insulator, second only to sudden bereavement.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":54,"quote_text":55,"author_id":5,"source_id":17,"has_image":18,"author":56,"source":57,"quote_tag":58,"commentary":9},3139434,"A children’s writer should, ideally, be a dedicated semi-lunatic, a kind of poet with a marvelous idea, who, preferably, when not committing the marvellous idea to paper, does something else of a quite different kind, so as to acquire new and rich experience.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":60,"quote_text":61,"author_id":5,"source_id":17,"has_image":18,"author":62,"source":63,"quote_tag":64,"commentary":9},3139417,"If reading becomes a bore, mental death is on the way. Children taught to read by tedious mechanical means rapidly learn to skim over the dull text without bothering to delve into its implications – which in time will make them prey to propaganda and to assertions based on scanty evidence, or none.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":66,"quote_text":67,"author_id":5,"source_id":68,"has_image":18,"author":69,"source":70,"quote_tag":71,"commentary":9},799504,"Why do we want to have alternate worlds? It's a way of making progress. You have to imagine something before you do it.",2,{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":73,"quote_text":74,"author_id":5,"source_id":68,"has_image":18,"author":75,"source":76,"quote_tag":77,"commentary":9},793886,"No moral to this story, you will be saying, and I am afraid it is true.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[78],{"id":79,"tag":80},3700372,{"id":81,"tag_name":82},49042,"weird-fiction",{"currentPage":84,"totalPages":68,"totalItems":8,"itemsPerPage":85},1,10]