Children’s Books February 6, 2006
Posted by fredcharles in Uncategorized.trackback
I read a lot of children’s books. My daughter has a whole library full of them. Every night, I put her to bed and let her select a few books for me to read to her. I have read everything from Cinderella to Green Eggs and Ham to A Christmas Carol. There is one thing that I noticed about kids books; when they are bad, they are really bad.
Let’s face it, most children’s books cost more than a paperback novel and contain the equivalent of 2-3 paragraphs of text. I think that a lot of these authors figure that because these books are geared toward young children who really don’t understand, they can write absolute crap.
And some of them are real crap.
We have one book that about a pig. The book is about 4 pages long. Basically, the pig is going to play with his friends but his mom tells him to stay clean. He gets dirty by accident, it rains (which cleans him) and that is it. The End. Some of these books have terrible rhymes and don’t make a lick of sense. I think it’s sad that so little thought goes into these books. The lazy writers are slighting the kids who are getting these books. I mean, if you can’t put some effort into writing a few paragraphs of text, then you shouldn’t be writing.
The funny part is that when I read a quality book to my daughter, I can see the difference in her reaction. Take Dr. Seuss for instance, these books are fun for me to read because of the clever rhymes, and I can see her face light up at colorful sound of language. She loves it. I can see the opposite look and disinterest in her face when I am reading her one of those crummy movie-based Disney books, which may as well have been assembled on a conveyor belt. She will take the book out of my hand, mid-sentence, and carry it back to the shelf. She would make a great book critic!
These writers are fools. Kids have a short attention span, if they don’t like something, they’ll give up on it and do something else. Simple as that. Therefore, I think it’s harder to write for a kid than an adult.
Your daughter is learning quickly.
I have a 6 year old and a 3 year old and you are so right about the children’s books. Luckily we don’t pay much for ours – we like the GoodWill.
It sounds like your daughter really knows what she likes, which is great! The good news is that there are lots of amazing children’s books out there – you just need to know where to look. You might like to visit Book Carousel or Book Buds, both of which feature picture book reviews.
Yes, this is true. When I am buying childrens books I try and buy used ones at flea markets and used book stores. I generally look for the old titles the classics that I was raised on. A lot of the new childrens books, as well as the new cartoons lack any real purpose or moral value.
For some good books listed by age/grade, go to amblesideonline.com. It is actually a homeschool site, but it lists books for “year 0″ ie, preschool age. These are classics and my kids love them! I read the velveteen rabit, and they are 8 and 10, and they loved it!
Thanks to all of you who posted recommendations on books. I will surely check out those sites.
My daughters daycare teacher told me that Jenna like a book called “Cookies Week.” It took me almost two months to track this book down. I actually got it on Christmas Eve. When I gave it to my daughter, her eyes lit up and she said, “Cookie!”. That made it worth the effort!
My pet peeves are “preachy” books. The ones that insist upon a saccharin sweet moral to be learned. Grumpy Gus Learns to Share etc. I do, however, think that most children’s writers and publisher genuinely hope that their books will be well recieved by children, rather than simply make a profit.