Teletubbie disease steals imagination

I have always loved reading. From young I loved the colourful pictures and words. I cherished the freedom of being able to imagine my own story, guided by the words before me.

I could read a book 10 times and each time the detail would be slightly different, the characters would change somehow, so each time was unique and exciting.

But all too many children fall victim to "Teletubbie syndrome", watching so much television that their own imagination gets swept into the back corners of their brains, not to be seen again. But it is not too late to save them from a life lacking in creativity and inspiration.

A quality children's book is hard to come by these days and, I imagine, even harder to write. I once attempted my own but, after days of frustration and hastily erased pencil scribblings, I accepted defeat. Jamie's Big Day would never be a hit with the under-5s, no matter how much I wanted it to be.

But this exercise gave me an appreciation of my favourite children's authors, who skilfully crafted the books that I still occasionally return to.

Among my collection are three collectors' items: Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are, Dr Seuss' Oh, The Places You'll Go! and Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach. These books have three things in common: a timeless storyline, loveable characters and a sound point to it all.

Children's television, however, does nothing of the sort. Often shows simply try to teach children facts and figures, or shove morals down their throats. A children's book often has a point to it, but it is never as obvious as a television show.

Dr Seuss wrote simply to get children reading. A huge advocate of children's literacy, he would take things happening in the world around and translate those events into stories children could understand.

He did not write the moral into it; children simply found it, just as there is something to be learned from everything happening around us. Seuss encouraged kids to draw their own conclusions from his stories.

Seuss, Dahl and Sendak managed to teach children like me that life is a journey, full of strange characters, strange places and strange stories. My life might not be as hard as poor James' was, with his evil aunts, but mine has the potential to be as good as his is now, with lots of (insect) friends and success and fun.

Though children's television might be colourful and strange, it doesn't have anything near the enduring strength of a story written for a child. It ages almost instantly, and simply won't appeal to the same audience in a decade - sorry, Barney.

To avoid Teletubbie syndrome, we should follow the advice found in one of Dahl's most outstanding books, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory: "So, please, oh please, we beg, we pray, go throw your TV set away, and in its place you can install, a lovely bookcase on the wall."

Rowan Woods, Year 13, Epsom Girls Grammar