Do kids books always have to be grammatically correct?
Kids don’t usually give a hoot, but some parents do. Here from the New York Times the subject is debated, and the book(s)…the Junie B. Jones series.
“More than a few parents have taken issue with Junie B., as she is called. Their disagreement is a pint-size version of the lingering education battle between advocates of phonics, who believe children should be taught proper spelling and grammar from the outset, and those who favor whole language, a literacy method that accepts misspellings and other errors as long as children are engaged in reading and writing.
The spunky kindergartener (first grader in more recent volumes) is prone to troublemaking, often calls people names and isn’t averse to talking back to her teachers. And though she is the narrator of the stories, she struggles with grammar. Her adverbs lack the suffix -ly; subject and object pronouns give her problems, as do possessives; she usually isn’t able to conjugate irregular past tense verbs; and words like funnest and beautifuller are the mainstays of her vocabulary.”
Trash-Talkin’ Junie B
As the parent of a 9-yr-old who still says “bemember” and isn’t much of a reader, I do worry about the JBJ books. I don’t think the issue is one of fearing that kids will “pick up” Junie’s talk so much as that they will think her verb conjugations, for ex., are correct–then be unable to understand why they’re being marked down (or laughed at, or considered unintelligent) when they use them. JBJ comes up, I think, of all the children’s books that contain “bad grammar,” because JBJ is for a young crowd–kids that are really just learning to read. The 6th graders who read JBJ for a laugh understand Park’s intent–that JB’s speech is part of her characterization…but the 2nd graders might not.
I worried about this kind of thing, too, when asked to write a teaching unit for Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet for reluctant ESL readers. Hatchet’s for an older set–but a set new to English might have the same difficulties with it that a set new to reading could have with JBJ.
It’s just a hard thing to tell a kid: yes, you struggled really hard to read this book, and you did a great job–but all those words you worked to learn and recognize? Don’t use them in conversation or when writing–they’re incorrect.
Re:Trash-Talkin’ Junie B
On the other hand, JBJ books can be used as an education tool for children. These books are wildly popular with 1st and 2nd graders, yet in my 8 years of being an elementary school library technician, I have yet to see any copying of JBJ’s verbal style by the kids. Let’s remember that most children are not around a lot of people who talk like JBJ. And that’s probably a big part of these books’ popularity. I think kids learn quite quickly that books can provide great entertainment, as well as be learning tools. If we move away from this type of a book because we’re afraid kids will mimic her incorrect grammer, we’d better move away from all those books where the characters do things we don’t approve of, in case our children won’t know what is appropriate. I don’t believe the JBJ books are contributing to bad grammer, any more than I believe books are the reason kids misbehave.
Teaching ESL kids English and grammer is a whole different ball of wax, and obviously one has to have different criteria for the materials used in that situation.
Re:Trash-Talkin’ Junie B
Yes–I didn’t mean so much that kids would succumb to bad grammar–that’s why I said I did NOT think the fear was that kids would imitate JBJ’s speech. My concern had to do with kids struggling to learn the “bad grammar” words…for ex., with my kid, I have to say “sound it out”–and then she’s so satisfied when she’s read the word…then to say (because she DOESN’T KNOW) that “it’s not really a word you should use, it’s just the way JBJ talks”…it’s hard to explain. I’m talking about kids who aren’t savvy enough to “get” what Park’s doing with JBJ’s speech–feeling cheated or let down after sounding out these words. I’m not talking about kids who devour the JBJ books and “get it,” and I don’t dislike the books at all myself. I’m just saying–they’re difficult when I’m thinking in terms of early literacy, and I might avoid them then.
Re:Trash-Talkin’ Junie B
Ditto.
English teachers support JBJ
Traci Gardner has an interesting response to the Times article on the NCTE Inbox Blog: Why I’m for Junie B.
I particularly like her closing suggestion: