Isaac Bashevis Singer believes that “’unknown words don’t stop the child,’ he says. ‘But a boring story will’” (111). It’s so important to give children every opportunity to become lost in a book. No matter what the book is about, if it has strong characters and a powerful story, then they will conquer it. Obviously, it has to be within their reading range, but if a story is good enough, a child will rise to the challenge. In the text, E. B. White agreed. Children “love words that give them a hard time” (111). Well stated!
As a young reader I loved keeping lists of words and concepts that I wanted to learn. For so many children (and adults), learning is a magnificent adventure. It would be so boring to always read about things that we completely understood and knew about. What a fantastic opportunity that is to enable children to explore other places, cultures and ideas!
What experiences have you had with this? Are there any books that continue to be challenging for students, but that they also love to work their way through?
Reference
Fox, Dana and Short, Kathy. 2003. STORIES MATTER; THE COMPLEXITY OF CULTURAL AUTHENTICITY IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English. ISBN 0-8141-4744-5.
As a young reader I loved keeping lists of words and concepts that I wanted to learn. For so many children (and adults), learning is a magnificent adventure. It would be so boring to always read about things that we completely understood and knew about. What a fantastic opportunity that is to enable children to explore other places, cultures and ideas!
What experiences have you had with this? Are there any books that continue to be challenging for students, but that they also love to work their way through?
Reference
Fox, Dana and Short, Kathy. 2003. STORIES MATTER; THE COMPLEXITY OF CULTURAL AUTHENTICITY IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English. ISBN 0-8141-4744-5.