Educating Risa

The boys and I recently read A Bear Called Paddington (a fuller review in my forthcoming Reading Round-Up), and I was struck by the complex sentence structure and vocabulary of this book published in 1958—it seemed so much richer than much of the literature for young children today. My impressions were no doubt heightened as we were re-reading the first of the Magic Tree House series, Dinosaurs Before Dark, at the same time. (Gareth is just starting to sit through chapter books; I read the series with Daegan a couple years ago).

 

But judge for yourself. Here’s a bit of Paddington, written more than 50 years ago, paragraph breaks as they appear on the page:

Paddington settled back in his armchair, wiped a smear of butter carefully from his whiskers, put his paws behind his head and stretched out his toes towards the fire. He liked an audience, especially when he was warm and the world seemed a nice place.

“I was brought up in Darkest Peru,” he began. “By my Aunt Lucy. She’s the one that lives in a home for retired bears in Lima.” He closed his eyes thoughtfully.

A hush fell over the room and everyone waited expectantly. After a while, when nothing happened, they began to get restless. Mr. Brown coughed loudly. “It doesn’t seem a very exciting story,” he said impatiently.

And here’s a bit from Dinosaurs Before Dark, written in 1992, again with ‘paragraph’ breaks as they appear on the page:

“I wish we would go back to Frog Creek,” said Jack.

Nothing happened.

“I wish—“

“Wait. You were looking at a picture in the dinosaur book. Remember?”

The dinosaur book.

Jack groaned. “Oh, no. I left the book and my pack on the hill. I have to go back.”

“Oh, forget it.” said Annie.

“I can’t,” said Jack. The book doesn’t belong to us. Plus my notebook’s in my pack. With all my notes.”

Hurry!” said Annie.

Jack hurried down the rope ladder.

He leaped to the ground.

He raced past the Pteranodon, through the ferns, through the tall grass, and up the hill.

He looked down.

There was his pack, lying on the ground. On top of it was the dinosaur book.

But now the valley below was filled with Anatosauruses. All standing guard around the nests.

Now don’t get me wrong; we quite enjoy the Magic Tree House series. It’s a really easy series for getting into chapter books, as your kids quickly become familiar with the characters and the format. It is a gentle introduction to a wide range of topics and time periods, from dinosaurs to Shakespeare to Ancient Egypt. But it is clear to me that something has changed in the way humans, including children, use language in past 50 or so years. I leave it up to you to decide if it is a change for the better, the worse, or simply the inevitable.