Get Your Television Out of My Books!

Charlotte Mason though that books that are dumbed down insult the child's intelligence. She called them "twaddle."

On the other hand, I will read my children almost any book they hand me. I read book after book about trucks, shapes, numbers, and other tedious topics. I draw the line, however, at printed transcripts of television shows or blatant advertisements for expensive toys.

I don't have any definitive evidence of this, but it must be counterproductive to use television characters to lure children into reading. Read them quality books and they will want to read more books; read Dora books and they will want to turn on the television. And the books are BORING. The storylines are trite, the vocabulary infantile, and the illustrations awful.

Unfortunately, these books are EVERYWHERE -- grocery store endcaps, fast-food giveaways, and even at bookstores. Well-meaning relatives continually present Agent 002 with Disney-Pixar Cars themed books, which is at least better than the Disney-princess books given to Agent 004.

Look at the current selection of books available from Scholastic:
Filled with twaddle!

I do make an exception for Grover (The Monster at the End of this Book, Grover's Resting Places and Hide and Seek are three of the best books I know), and of course Curious George was in books before he hit the big screen (although oddly enough we prefer the newer books done "in the style of" H.A. Rey like the ones in this treasury).

So maybe the distinction is Mason-like; I avoid meaningless books, preferring books with good narration and superior illustrations. Even if they do feature a furry blue monster or an inquisitive monkey.