Opinions Please: What Makes A Good Children’s Book?
We were driving to San Diego and planned to listen to some audiobooks. Karen had picked out Redwall, which sounded promising. We listened to several hours worth of the book, which was well-performed, before turning it off.
To me, it sounded exactly like sitting in a room listening to a group of people play Dungeons and Dragons. Whatever you think of Dungeons and Dragons, I strongly urge you not to sit in a room listening to a group of people play it. It’s much more fun either to play, or to find something constructive to do, than to listen to a bunch of people musing about what to do, giving each other bad advice, and struggling with what seem to you to be obvious clues and puzzles.
That got me to wondering whether the book was just too old for my kids and too young for me, or whether it was actually lacking something.
So like the title says, what makes a good children’s book?
I think the elements of a good story remain the same no matter who the audience is. An “attractive fantasy” that is safe is key for kids, though. I don’t mean the fantasy genre, per se (though it can be, especially these days with the popularity of Harry Potter) but there has to be some embodiment of wish fulfillment for children. Often it’s a world they would like to live in – Hogwarts, Narnia, Avonlea, for example – or a relationship situation they would like to be in or can relate to. (Only children might like stories about big, loving families; poor kids might like stories about being rich.) Kids also seem to really like things that subvert their expectations in an absurd way. For example, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” just won’t stop eating.