From storyasking

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THE CHILD-MIND; AND HOW TO SATISFY IT "it is the grown people who make the nursery stories," wrote Stevenson, "all the children do is jealously to preserve the text."

And the grown person, whether he makes his stories with pen or with tongue, should bring two qualities at least to the work -- simplicity of language and a serious sincerity. The reason for the simplicity is obvious, for no one, child or otherwise, can thoroughly enjoy a story clouded by words which convey no meaning to him.

The second quality is less obvious but equally necessary. No absence of fun is intended by the words ``serious sincerity, but they mean that the story-teller should bring to the child an equal interest in what is about to be told; an honest acceptance, for the time being, of the fairies, or the heroes, or the children, or the animals who talk, with which the tale is concerned. The child deserves this equality of standpoint, and without it there can be no entire success.

As for the stories themselves, the difficulty lies with the material, not with the child.