Interview: Sam Leith, Author, The Haunted Wood: A History of Childhood Reading 'In children's tales are the roots of all storytelling'

On the foundational nature of children's literature, and why video games can never match the reading experience

- Kanika Sharma

What was your way into the book? It struck me that children's literature was a slightly neglected field. It also struck me that children's literature is dismissed as less important than the grown-up stuff. I felt strongly that the opposite was the case. These stories are foundational. Every reading career begins with children's reading. That's also because, as I argue, children's stories are closely connected to myths and folk tales, the most primal forms of storytelling. The quest narratives, the heroes and villains, the magical transformations, the talking animals and all the things we see in children's literature right up to this day tell us something quite fundamental about the roots of storytelling.

Your book's scope is vast. It goes beyond encapsulating children's bookshelves and tries to understand why these books strike a chord.