Not long ago, I spotted a copy of the first Newbery Award children’s book in a library book sale. The book was old and battered, but only fifty cents, so I bought it. This book had the honor of being the very first book recommended for children by the American Library Association, so I thought it MUST be good.
At home, I opened it up. The title page looked kind of cool:
I got to page 4, and thought, hmmm, this is serious reading for kids. Let’s start that discussion about evolution young.
I skipped ahead to page 44, about the Indo-Europeans… (who?)
I kept flipping through pages, until reaching page 336. A picture of a guillotine adorned the page. Good grief – is this really a kids’ book?
Well, I continued to peruse the “The Story Of Mankind”. Page 479 was clearly written to bolster a large vocabulary. Check out these words:
inanimate
factotum
Bolshevik
seditious radical
holy endeavors
plenipotentiaries
The book was 482 pages long, a length even the average adult would have difficulty managing.
I could only shake my head and wonder what kind of person would think this was a book for children. Cross this off your list for the kids…
