Confession time: I've been known to hide certain books from my kids when it's time for bedtime stories.
I know. It's awful. I should be delighted to have girls that love all sorts of books. But there are books a mama can only take reading aloud so many times. What children's books do you hide when it's read aloud time?
As a writer, I want my book to be read, loved, and reread. It's important to look at why some books are sweet repeats while others are not agains. So let's share. Comment and tell me what makes you not want to reread a book to your kid. I'm all about keeping things positive and being kind to other writers, so DO NOT TELL THE TITLE OR AUTHOR of the books you discuss. Let's keep things general so we can all learn from them.
Book hiders of the world, come clean. Tell us what to avoid when writing for children.
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The ones that drive me bonkers are the ones that repeat and keep building on the repeat with each cycle of the story line. More and more to repeat each time around! AAAHHHH!!! :-)
ReplyDeleteI agree - the repeating over and over is exhausting to read. I am also not a huge fan of excessive rhyming - it starts to feel silly when reading aloud. And of course, last but not least, a book that is TOO long (more than about 5-7 minutes to read), is definitely not making a bedtime appearance.
ReplyDeleteNo children of my own, but five nieces and nephews that I've babysat often. And two of the nieces went through a phase of absolutely loving a book that would make me cry every time I read it! I think they liked the repetition in it. And even though I would hide the book when I was there babysitting, the oldest niece had the book memorized enough that she would tell me the story without the book! Not as sad that way, though.
ReplyDeleteThere is a particular book by a particular British author whom I ordinarily love, but her books tend to have writing upside-down, in winding circles, with intricate backgrounds and, well, they're just HARD TO READ. The latest book took this to the outermost limit. I need to rotate the book or squint my eyes to read the text that lies atop a busy pattern. One page in the book is filled with newspapers and it's difficult to see which is the story text versus the newspaper text. I hate reading this book because it gives me such a headache. The shame is that it's an adorable story. I just wish the art direction was more cognizant of how difficult it is to read!
ReplyDeleteBusted! I feel like I can name names here, since it was a Dr. Seuss book - Red Fish, Blue Fish. It went on forever! Fun question.
ReplyDeleteGlad to know I am not the only one. On the nights I am tired, I tend to hide the books with a lot of words per page
ReplyDeleteI don't necessarily hide any books. There are books I get tired of but that the boys love so I put them in 'read alone' pile. Even before they can actually read they have memorized their favorite books (as have I) so they feel grown up to read it alone. As a reader, I agree that building, repeating patterns are tough on grown ups. But, as a teacher, I know they are a powerful, powerful tool to build literacy.
ReplyDeleteHa, ha! Love this post. Not because I don't like the book, but I had to hide A Monster at the End of this Book because I'm sure I've read it over 100 times. As a babysitter, then as a Mom.
ReplyDeleteI hate movie tie-in books (probably not offending anyone if I mention those Tinker Bell books) Try to steer clear of them, but some have snuck into the bookcases anyway.
ReplyDeleteGreat comments, everyone. Remember not to give titles or authors.
ReplyDeleteI don't have anyone I read to at the moment, so I can't speak to that side of hiding books. Amusingly, though, I remember being little and hiding books away from my mother that I didn't want her to read... she liked a lot of sappy stories-- the "how much do I love you" kind of books, and even then, I wanted nothing to do with them!
ReplyDeleteI know that she hid some of my favorite tongue-twister kind of books... we've only recently "rediscovered" in my parent's attic a copy of a particularly tricky Dr. Seuss. (I know that we're not supposed to name names, but saying that Dr. Seuss had some excellent tongue twisters is, IMHO, a total compliment!)
great post. i don't write younger-children's books (i'm YA), so i'm not sure if i can dive into the discussion, but great post.
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing -- this is important :D
Anything that features a refrain that's repeated over and over again on every other page. It's like an annoying ear worm.
ReplyDeleteI could name names but I won't. But there was this one book. About a superhero cat. My husband took a stand: "I will NOT read that book ever again. Put it under the bed."
"Under the bed" is now akin to "sleeps with the fishes" from The Godfather.
I hid a book from my son when he was small, not because it was bad, but because I was tired of reading it 50 times a day!
ReplyDelete