The literature for children has become polluted lately. The books no longer have substance as earlier. They do not arouse the children’s interest, said Spriridon Vangheli. According to the writer, the literature for children should be the ‘weapon’ that would keep them away from unhealthy occupations, but too many of the books that appear on shelves are superficial and do not hold interest.

“There appear books that make the children confused. The literature for children is not algebra. It must be understandable and have a subtext message so that the child remembers the book and returns to it when an adult and reads it to his child,” Spriridon Vangheli said in a discussion with IPN’s reporter.

Asked to draw a parallel between generations, Spiridon Vangheli said the children now are more energetic than earlier. “The children now do not have the patience we had once. They must be kept permanently in movement and given substance for thinking,” said the writer, adding that without education, the child becomes sluggish in thinking and in movement.

The writer, who on June 14 will celebrate 81 years, confessed that the state of child is what makes him powerful. “When you write for children, you must always have a child in soul. If the child from you dies, you can take the pen to the museum,” he stated.

Spiridon Vangheli was born in 1932. He wrote a lot of stories and ballads for children, including Guguta’s Feats, Guguta – Captain of Boat, and Ciubotel’s Star. Together with Grigore Vieru, he wrote a spelling book for first graders. He was honored with the Order of the Republic and the State Award of the Soviet Union, and with the Prize of the Romanian Academy “Ion Creanga”. In 1992, he was conferred the honorific title of People’s Writer of Moldova.