I have something of a dislike for children’s books that become mega popular hits. It’s not out of some misplaced sense that I won’t like something that’s too popular because then it’s no longer “cool.” I’ll admit to having felt that about various things before, but that’s not it. And it’s not because they’re not good. Some children’s books that become super popular are excellent and most of them have some redeeming value, a reason that the book or series became such a hit.
It’s more that once a book reaches a critical level of popularity, adults get stupid about recommending it, buying it and checking it out of the library for kids.
Not every 9 year-old boy is going to love the Wimpy Kid just by virtue of being a 9 year-old boy. Not every 14 year-old girl is going to love the Hunger Games series by virtue of her demographic.
I think what’s really annoying to me is that if an adult asked for a recommendation for a book, a librarian or a bookstore clerk or any other book guru would ask what they liked to do and read. You would never recommend a book for an adult by looking at them and saying, “Hm, you look like you’re in your 20′s and you’re a woman… how about The Devil Wears Prada?” But that’s exactly what many adults do to children when trying to assess what book will hook them. These super popular books become easy answers. Here, teen girl, read Twilight. Here, preschool girl, enjoy your Pinkalicious. Here preteen boy, have some Percy Jackson.
Or, worse, sometimes a book becomes so popular that people give it to really young kids who it may not have been meant for. I don’t censor books from my kids and I’m not going to freak out if they’re reading Wimpy Kid at age 5 or the final Harry Potter book in 2nd grade, but I don’t think it’s exactly optimal.
Sometimes a megahit is the right book to hook a child into reading, of course. I just don’t like the way they become a simple “magic bullet” for adults to ignore children’s individual reading needs and tastes, not to mention the vast array of books out there both new and old. I think generally children should be encouraged to think about their book choices and pick things that they will individually enjoy.
Amen. My son hates Wimpy Kid books but likes Percy Jackson. My daughter loves Pinkalicious but can’t stand all the ‘Fairies’ books (she was given a few but has ripped at least two to shreds). You can’t pigeonhole kids any more than you can do it to adults!
Amen!!!
Once when my son was about eleven, he asked the children’s librarian at our neighborhood library for a book recommendation. The librarian gave him a free-form lecture about how he should read what he likes and not worry about what people think and what’s important is that he’s *reading* (all the while giving me meaningful glances over his shoulder).
He gave her a martyred sigh and the gimlet eye and said something along the lines of, “Look, lady. My mom will let me read darned near anything. I just couldn’t find anything that looked interesting, so I thought I’d ask for some help.”
After an awkward pause, she asked what sorts of things he had read and liked and then made a few suggestions. Why she didn’t start there, I can’t guess. I thought it was the most frustrating library moment ever, but having people suggest things based on some popularity scale based on the kid’s gender or hairdo or backpack would definitely be even worse!
We just ran into this at our library, actually, when Alex asked for books about strong girls having adventures and the librarian kept suggesting book after book about girls in mundane settings who had spunky, sassy attitudes. It was clear that she had a Strong Girls for Early Elementary mental category based on marketing juggernauts like Clementine, Judy Moody, etc., and that made it surprisingly hard for her to understand that Alex wanted girls wielding swords or defeating evil, not girls talking back and getting in trouble at school.
(Any recommendations? Roxy and the Hooligans is what originally prompted the request.)
Ooh, I love Roxy and the Hooligans! Hm… could she read Igraine the Brave? Maybe a slight reading stretch, though it’s on the easier side for Cornelia Funke’s books. Or… oh, hey, Fairy Tale Detectives! Or would that also be too big a stretch? I don’t think so as she sounds like she tears through books. There’s something else that’s not coming to me. Something contemporary that’s a series… I’ll keep thinking…
Oh, one more occurred to me, Rivka – Nim’s Island! Perfect reading level, I would think. And, on a more classic front – The Borrowers or Ronia, the Robber’s Daughter – though those would probably be more like read alouds than independent reads. Or Island of the Blue Dolphins. Or From the Mixed Up Files… Oops, I got on a roll of girl-centric adventures. But I still can’t remember what that contemporary series was. Oh well.
My major beef is with children’s books written by celebrity authors. Almost all of them are mediocre at best.