In a nutshell, I believe book editors have fallen prey to the almighty dollar and therefore, are producing books with the vernacular tailored towards the inferior, standardized-test child instead of elevated for the voracious, learning child. Let me provide some context. I decided to read this book to my 5th graders. As I read it to them, they kept interjecting--"What does 'cowed' mean?" "Blithe?" "Yokel?" "Smite?" "Brayed" "Frolicked?"--now these were all vocabulary authentic to the Old English vernacular of the time and appropriate for the context of the story. And in total, there were 21 unfamiliar words. Furthermore, this was a "teachable moment" and a great way to have them use their 21st century technology (e.g. their cellphones) for the quick Google Query on defining a word. Heck, I even had a moment of pride when a young lady chided a boy for interrupting me by saying "Stop acting like a yokel and let her finish!" Can we say AHA moment?
However, what pissed me off was the fact that this book was written in 1990 and published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Twenty five years ago, when vocabulary challenged students...before No Child Left Behind left American children leagues behind other countries...when editors published books that made children ask their parents--"What does 'churlish' mean?" e.g. "I've a problem. I don't know what this word means. Let me find a resource. How can I use this new knowledge? I can use to insult and confuse my bully at school. Oh yeah? Well, you're a churlish yokel! Now let me run while he's confused!"
Returning to my initial concern, I believe majority of the books published are such simpletons that the kiddos have no reason to interrupt Mommy as she watches Netflix to ask an interactive question about a word choice...heaven forbid that Mommy has a teachable moment with their child at home. Forgive my digression, but the revelation in reading Steig's "middle-aged" book boggled my mind so that I pulled some award winning picture books of 2015--The Day the Crayons Quit, The Chicken Squad: The First Misadventure, Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend and The Pigeon Needs a Bath!--straight from the American Library Association's list of Notable Books to use as comparison to Steig's invigorating vocabulary just to test my hunch: Are editors/publishers producing inferior books? Even though those aforementioned titles are entertaining--I love Beekle and Dan Santat--my informal research showed that not one of them came even close to challenging the audience's vocabulary with higher-order thinking vernacular...or as a like to see it, enticing the reader to seek new meaning with words as they sit captivated by the storytelling and visual.
Simply put, "if the kids don't see, read and interact with words on some stimulating level, how else will their vocabulary expand?" Especially, if publishers/editors are pushing simpleton books that appeal to the reluctant readers, but don't provide the grit needed to grow linguistically?
I suppose the big picture to me as an educator, librarian, parent and advocate of intellectual freedom is this: We can talk "Rigor and Relevance," dig deeper, Teach Like a Champion and all that other educational jargon that corporations/institutions sell at professional development workshops, but if we don't hold PUBLISHERS and EDITORS accountable like we hold teachers and students, then it's all just lipservice...or as my Daddy says "It's the same shit, just a different toilet!"
So here's the challenge, in addition to producing diverse books that have more minorities on the cover and in leading roles because color matters to everyone whether they acknowledge or deny it, embrace the authors that use words that challenge their audiences to remove themselves from their ZOMBIE, simpleton reading and acquire a new meaningful word or two! This way words like "irascible," "appalled" and "slog" are used just as frequently as "like," "awesome" and "really." As an aside, I f-ing loathe the words "like," "awesome" and "really!" If any one of them are used more than 3 times in a conversation, I've written you off mentally. I know it's harsh...but like really?
