Bad Children's/Preteen Literature?

[Paige]

Anyone read something really terrible lately?

 

My DS does not believe good writing matters. I don't need arguments to persuade him. I don't believe he really would listen anyway and think his motivation is entirely to convince me to go easy on him because he doesn't want to work hard. What I'd like, is a collection of excruciatingly bad literature that I can inflict upon him so he will see the benefit of good writing. The type that I would like for him to read is like the books you see self published for kindles by first time authors that may have been ok with an editor or proofreader, but are terrible as written. I have seen a few of these but don't recall which in my history are suitable for him and which ones were the worst. Most of the time, I quit reading as soon as it becomes obviously bad. If you have a bad essay or nonfiction title, I'll take that as well.

 

Please don't link to the books. I can search for the titles and authors myself. I'd hate for someone to track back here and see that her book was used as an example of bad writing.

[Lori D.]

Well, what leaped to my mind was this dramatic reading of a very poorly written review of a video game. The review was clearly not proof-edited, either. You might want to preview, as there is the 4-letter word of d***. But more importantly, I laughed so hard at how bad it was coupled with the GREAT dramatic reading, it might suggest that poor writing is "funny"... On the other hand, maybe it CAN be an encouragement to good writing and proofing -- you DON'T want to end up being the person who wrote something that is mocked by everyone... ! ;)

[Dmmetler]

Jerry Ayres. The one we tried is called "Cheerleader"

[Farrar]

I once tried this when I was teaching middle school. I gave kids blind photocopied pages from "good" and "bad" books. And it was a travesty. They simply could not distinguish. I was actually a little floored. The bad examples I chose were all pretty bad. But I took from that some things. One, that learning to appreciate good literature takes years. You can't put a child who has mostly eaten fast food in front of a great salad (or even a great hamburger) and expect them to have a palette for it. Second, it was a reminder to me that literature is art and what people see in it varies, since so much of what makes art is our response. Where I saw bad dialogue, poorly constructed sentences, repetitive word choices, etc., the kids saw action and fun and easy to read. And, hey, action is a good thing.

 

If you do it, I would choose persuasive writing - poorly written and well-written op-eds from a newspaper for example. Because I think that's much easier to see. Or poorly written instructions (that's certainly a potential place to see where clear and concise matters). And I might look at just first sentences for books and focus on the micro stuff - word choice, for example.

[Stars]

There's a lot of truly heinous poetry floating around in the world.  But as a lot of it is written by teenagers, your child might not yet appreciate its awfulness.  I agree with ferrarwilliams' post above.  It takes prolonged exposure to good literature to recognize that of lesser quality.

[Mergath]

Eragon, by Christopher Paolini, is the most poorly written book I've come across in a long time.  I don't know if it would be the right age range for you guys, but wow, is it bad.

[ErinE]

Eragon, by Christopher Paolini, is the most poorly written book I've come across in a long time. I don't know if it would be the right age range for you guys, but wow, is it bad.

My son loves this book, and I would rather attempt Moby Dick for the umpteenth time than read it. I have a feeling it's a bit like Twilight. People like the story so much they get past the bad writing.

[SorrelZG]

Well, what leaped to my mind was this dramatic reading of a very poorly written review of a video game.

I have tears streaming down my cheeks. That was even funnier than the party pooper video linked to on the chat board yesterday. Thank you for sharing!

[MeaganS]

Maybe go to fanfiction.net?  There is some good fanfiction out there, but man, there is a lot of bad too.

[Farrar]

Eragon, by Christopher Paolini, is the most poorly written book I've come across in a long time.  I don't know if it would be the right age range for you guys, but wow, is it bad.

 

People talk about it like it's the greatest book sometimes and I never know how to respond.  Like, really?  Really?  Of course, a large piece (though certainly not all) is that it's derivative, which gets to how you have to be well read to recognize the good and the bad.

[Paige]

I once tried this when I was teaching middle school. I gave kids blind photocopied pages from "good" and "bad" books. And it was a travesty. They simply could not distinguish. I was actually a little floored. The bad examples I chose were all pretty bad. But I took from that some things. One, that learning to appreciate good literature takes years. You can't put a child who has mostly eaten fast food in front of a great salad (or even a great hamburger) and expect them to have a palette for it. Second, it was a reminder to me that literature is art and what people see in it varies, since so much of what makes art is our response. Where I saw bad dialogue, poorly constructed sentences, repetitive word choices, etc., the kids saw action and fun and easy to read. And, hey, action is a good thing.

 

If you do it, I would choose persuasive writing - poorly written and well-written op-eds from a newspaper for example. Because I think that's much easier to see. Or poorly written instructions (that's certainly a potential place to see where clear and concise matters). And I might look at just first sentences for books and focus on the micro stuff - word choice, for example.

Say it's not true! Maybe he's too young to understand the difference between good and poor writing and I should just say "because I said so" and drop it. He loves cliches. He likes slang in his academic work (he calls it "style"), enjoys passive voice, generalizations, and weak adjectives and adverbs.

 

I make him read excellent literature but he'd really rather read Percy Jackson. I'm afraid to let him read Eragon because I bet he'd like it.

[Mergath]

People talk about it like it's the greatest book sometimes and I never know how to respond.  Like, really?  Really?  Of course, a large piece (though certainly not all) is that it's derivative, which gets to how you have to be well read to recognize the good and the bad.

 

I read one comment somewhere in which the person defending Eragon said that it wasn't that big of a deal that Paolini plagiarized from Tolkien, because after reading LotR they found it obvious that Tolkien ripped off Star Wars.  :banghead:    Honestly, what are they teaching kids nowadays?

 

I wish homeschoolers would stop pointing to Paolini as an example of a homeschooling success story.  It's not exactly making the rest of us look good.

[Learning fun]

The Water Babies and Swiss Family Robinson. These are old classics but I found them excruciating because they were written during the time when children's books were only considered worthwhile if they had pages and pages of sermonizing inbetween tiny bits of story. Torturous.

[Dolphin]

Eragon, by Christopher Paolini, is the most poorly written book I've come across in a long time.  I don't know if it would be the right age range for you guys, but wow, is it bad.

 

Someone gave this to my ds one birthday. A ton of his friends really like it. He keeps trying, he thinks the story sound interesting, but for some reason can't get into it. :)  (However he just plowed through Huck Finn and LOVED that)

[stripe]

I once tried this when I was teaching middle school. I gave kids blind photocopied pages from "good" and "bad" books. And it was a travesty.

Didn't John Stossel do that with art once? Show modern art versus regular kid's drawings or something drawn by animals? Yeah, okay, I found it.

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/GiveMeABreak/story?id=563146

 

I think too you have "classic" or "great" literature that is unusual in some way. I remember reading Amazon customers' reviews of Beatrix Potter complaining that her sentences are ungrammatical. Or Faulkner, for that matter.

[GailV]

Eragon, by Christopher Paolini, is the most poorly written book I've come across in a long time.  I don't know if it would be the right age range for you guys, but wow, is it bad.

 

My older daughter loved Eragon years ago.  Now she comments on it as an example of bad writing.  I mention this for those who worry that Eragon enjoyment is proof that your children have no taste in literature.  Sometimes tastes mature, and an eye for good writing gradually develops.

[Farrar]

Say it's not true! Maybe he's too young to understand the difference between good and poor writing and I should just say "because I said so" and drop it. He loves cliches. He likes slang in his academic work (he calls it "style"), enjoys passive voice, generalizations, and weak adjectives and adverbs.

 

I make him read excellent literature but he'd really rather read Percy Jackson. I'm afraid to let him read Eragon because I bet he'd like it.

 

But see, there's where it gets hard.  Percy Jackson books have a lot of positive qualities.  They have good, strong voice.  They have lots of action and scene.  They have very good pacing and plotting.  The character development is actually pretty good.  They have humor and emotion.  What they don't have are some of the things adults look for in "good" books, like better vocabulary, more varied sentence structure, a more formal style, etc.  I think it does kids a disservice to not recognize those aspects of what they see in a book.

 

That's why I said look at persuasive writing.  It's less subjective than fiction.  And using slang in fiction *is* appropriate, so even great literature does it sometimes.  So that probably wouldn't persuade him anyway.

[Butter]

 

I wish homeschoolers would stop pointing to Paolini as an example of a homeschooling success story.  It's not exactly making the rest of us look good.

 

But he is a success story... look how much he made on those books!  I think Dan Brown's writing is pretty terrible, but he's the successful author raking in the big bucks.  Same with Stephenie Meyer.  I think Twilight is utter crap, but she made a boatload of money on it.  I don't think most people in the world are looking for new ideas and incredible writing in what they read.  I think most people are just looking to be entertained.

[Paige]

The Water Babies and Swiss Family Robinson. These are old classics but I found them excruciating because they were written during the time when children's books were only considered worthwhile if they had pages and pages of sermonizing inbetween tiny bits of story. Tortuous.

Those were the worst two classics I ever read! My girls love the Water Babies movies, but I told them not to even bother with the book. I remember thinking they would never end!

[Paige]

Someone gave this to my ds one birthday. A ton of his friends really like it. He keeps trying, he thinks the story sound interesting, but for some reason can't get into it. :)  (However he just plowed through Huck Finn and LOVED that)

Show off. ;) My DS refuses to even try Huck Finn unless I order it (which I intend to eventually). I don't know why he thinks it will be so bad. It might be because our copy is old- like a 1930's edition, and it looks old fashioned, but he read our old Black Stallion and liked it.

[stripe]

Show off. ;) My DS refuses to even try Huck Finn unless I order it (which I intend to eventually). I don't know why he thinks it will be so bad. It might be because our copy is old- like a 1930's edition, and it looks old fashioned, but he read our old Black Stallion and liked it.

I think this makes a big difference, actually. I had a paperback copy of Winnie the Pooh with b&w illustrations and my kids wouldn't go near it. I got a set of the "deluxe" color hardback (at a bargain price, actually, like $2 each as I recall)  and they much preferred them.

 

I also read the Lauren Child version of Pippi Longstocking and the Helen Oxenbury of Alice in Wonderland, and Alice Through the Looking Glass. They made them seem much fresher, and younger somehow. 

 

Jane Nissen has reprinted a lot of older children's books in the UK, not unlike the NY Review of Books has -- both have nice fresh covers. By which I simply mean that they look new, not dusty. The illustrations themselves and the text are unchanged. I, on the other hand, absolutely adore the old Dell Yearling books from the 1980s. I buy any I see at book sales, and I've found a strangely large number of them! "They are my one weakness." ;)

[Mergath]

But he is a success story... look how much he made on those books!  I think Dan Brown's writing is pretty terrible, but he's the successful author raking in the big bucks.  Same with Stephenie Meyer.  I think Twilight is utter crap, but she made a boatload of money on it.  I don't think most people in the world are looking for new ideas and incredible writing in what they read.  I think most people are just looking to be entertained.

 

I don't think he is.  If it was just bad writing, people would roll their eyes and forget about him.  But Paolini is famous (or infamous, rather) for having made that boatload of money by essentially plagiarizing three or four other works into one giant brick of a book.  If the works he had plagiarized were newer, he would likely have been sued.  Because of a trilogy he wrote as a teen, he will never, ever be taken seriously as an author.  He may have money, but he has no respect, nor any real future in the field.

[RootAnn]

Eragon, by Christopher Paolini, is the most poorly written book I've come across in a long time.  I don't know if it would be the right age range for you guys, but wow, is it bad.

 

I must have poor taste, because I enjoyed Eragon immensely - and quite a bit of the enjoyment was because of the similarities to so many other stories/authors I am familiar with. (Although, I admit I never read it. I listened to all of the books except the last as professional read-alouds.)

 

I'm one who likes to be entertained with my light reading. I don't mind books with poor writing, although I'm very annoyed at plot holes big enough to drive a truck through and characters who do things completely out of character. (The Hunger Games trilogy was the latest one that would have been more entertaining if the story wasn't so poorly constructed.)

[Dolphin]

Show off. ;) My DS refuses to even try Huck Finn unless I order it (which I intend to eventually). I don't know why he thinks it will be so bad. It might be because our copy is old- like a 1930's edition, and it looks old fashioned, but he read our old Black Stallion and liked it.

 

We were running out of room for books, so ds got a kindle for his birthday last year. Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer were free to download. We can even borrow books electronically from the library on it. If it helps, my son will not read Gulliver's travels! :)

[Shellydon]

Geronimo Stilton books are pretty awful, IMO.

[mathmarm]

I'm not exactly a well-read literary critic. I don't even like to read.

I thought that Twilight--the book, I don't have the eggs to even attempt it as a series--as a whole, was awful. Painfully, painfully awful.

I got it in hard copy and audio book just to try and finish a "big book" and I was miserable.

 

Jr. and I both sat up crying a few nights while I worked on it.

[saraha]

I don't know if your paper runs letters to the editor, but ours does, and some of them are terrible to read!  They don't get that many letters I don't  think, so they publish what they get, and some of them are very well written, and some are barely coherent.  Maybe try those.

[shawthorne44]

I read one comment somewhere in which the person defending Eragon said that it wasn't that big of a deal that Paolini plagiarized from Tolkien, because after reading LotR they found it obvious that Tolkien ripped off Star Wars.  :banghead:    Honestly, what are they teaching kids nowadays?

 

I wish homeschoolers would stop pointing to Paolini as an example of a homeschooling success story.  It's not exactly making the rest of us look good.

 

Have you ever heard the story behind The Happy Little Toaster?

The author was giving a presentation at a writer's conference basically saying that all these books follow a formula.  He laid out the formula.  He was sort of calling them , and himself, Hacks. The audience was quite upset. He bet them that he could publish and be successful with a book about a toaster following the formula before the next conference in a year.  Not only was it published, but they made a movie out of it.