Use of Language
Some of you may remember I mentioned a plan to print and sell the
only children’s story I have ever written, or am ever likely to.
That plan still exists and I hope to identify a suitable printer
soon. It is an illustrated book and I need help as I don’t know
the waters at all and illustrated printing is not the same as
normal printing. I believe help is at hand though and that
particular problem will be resolved. I am doing this
because:
1. My father illustrated it and I’d like him to see it
2. Although it needs a bit of work, because I don’t see many
silly little moral stories for young children any longer
3. Because I can.
4. I do not expect to make any money, btw.
In the meantime a small number of people have read it, including a couple of primary school teachers to their classes and a few parents of young children. The feedback is almost universally that they like it and that the children engage with and enjoy the story and that they love the MC. But it has been consistently mentioned that one or two of the words/sentences are a bit hard for the children. Despite indications to the contrary I do listen to advice and criticism and I have been wondering about this. You see I have fairly strong feelings about dumbing down and not challenging young minds. When I was at school I was in a large group of children that were not challenged at all. The only one that had any expectations of me was, I believe, me. By some miracle I ultimately managed to surface and get noticed and went to gain some academic achievement. So I have a point to make that young minds should be taken out for a trot occasionally.
As I approach the time when I hope a printer will be identified I am stroking my chin over these few difficult sentences. I suspect they will stay as they are, but at this moment I just don’t know.
In the meantime a small number of people have read it, including a couple of primary school teachers to their classes and a few parents of young children. The feedback is almost universally that they like it and that the children engage with and enjoy the story and that they love the MC. But it has been consistently mentioned that one or two of the words/sentences are a bit hard for the children. Despite indications to the contrary I do listen to advice and criticism and I have been wondering about this. You see I have fairly strong feelings about dumbing down and not challenging young minds. When I was at school I was in a large group of children that were not challenged at all. The only one that had any expectations of me was, I believe, me. By some miracle I ultimately managed to surface and get noticed and went to gain some academic achievement. So I have a point to make that young minds should be taken out for a trot occasionally.
As I approach the time when I hope a printer will be identified I am stroking my chin over these few difficult sentences. I suspect they will stay as they are, but at this moment I just don’t know.
I am not a particular fan of Will Self. In fact, having read a couple of his books and rather more of his newspaper articles I have to confess that I am quite the opposite. But you have to admire his refusal to be swayed by criticism and in the article on the end of the link at the foot of this little note, I think he has a point. I am in unusual territory as I find I am agreeing with him on his use of challenging language. There is a little test in this article, halfway down on the right. Nine “difficult words”. I scored six.
Why not have a go and ‘fess up below.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17777556
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23 Comments
Re your words in your children's book. Are they old fashioned? I had to change some of mine and my grandchildren found it difficult just because I had used Ma and Pa!
Perhaps you could put it on here and get comments. It would seem a shame to do all the work and it not be read.
Bren, they are not old fashioned words, even though I am pretty creaky myself these days. But to be honest, what if they were? My point is about education. Doing only what is easy is not the way to anything worthwhile. Shakespeare is old fashioned yet no-one suggests that it should now read:
"The bitch is lying" rather than "Methinks the lady doth protest too much", for example
It won't be put it up here for various reasons. Not least being that I don't post stuff here that I hope to get published any longer. Also that it's an illustrated book and that would be a quite clunky thing to achieve.
If a child doesn't understand something then they can ask and with luck have the word explained. Isn't that how education works?
It will be read, or at least it will be printed, and it should make it to some shelves as I have already received encouragement from some of the shops that I hope will carry it. As I don't have to rely on an agent or a publisher I can just do it. I am going it alone after all.
Good luck with the book - your Dad will be proud, I'm sure. :)
If your story is being read TO children, then the children should still get the gist of the story even with an odd word they don't understand (and any teacher/helper worth their weight will pick up on unfamiliar words, ask if the child understands what it means and then explain if need be!)
If it is for children to read BY THEMSELVES, then hopefully they will have the confidence to ask about meaning or the nowse to pick up a dictionary to find out.
If it's too hard for them, they won't read it anyway.
If, as writers, we always play it safe and stick to what we are told children can already read, how the heck will the children ever improve their vocabulary?
I'll get down off my soapbox now...
Skylark, I had a 'look in the dictionary' grandmother!
I agree that it does no harm to stretch children's vocabularies - when I was 9 years old I gained access to adult literature for the first time, and although I often understood not much more than half of what I was reading, that in itself was something I found inspiring. Most of the time I could guess (or half-guess) at the meanings of difficult words from context, and the lack of perfect understanding often fired my imagination in ways that wouldn't have happened had I known the proper (and often mundane) meanings of various words. It's more stimulating to speculate! And a imperfect understanding leaves things more elastic, more pliable, for the young imagination.
Unless the text of a novel was made up almost exclusively of esoteric, orgulous verbiage, I see no reason why it shouldn't be enjoyable for the intelligent, imaginitive child.
I didn't do that well with the list though, to my chagrin, though I knew 'Heliotropic' with it's connection to 'Helios' (Greek God of the Sun as I remember), and Solipsism. I do like grue, that I must work into my day to day speech somehow. Gave me a right grue, innit? TFx
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