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So my S-I-L mentioned today that she has been reading with the girls - my nieces are almost-10 and gonna-be-eight. They started a book that K (my S-I-L) described as being "too old" for them. She did not mean "too mature" or "age-inappropriate" she meant just "too OLD." The use of words were strange and confusing, and (I expect B, the younger girl) doesn't have the patience to let the story flow until the cadence of the words make it become a little clearer. I can imagine B would question everything - what is that, what does that mean, etc. G, the older girl, would probably just puzzle it out and let the story be told, knowing that she'll understand the mannerisms more as time goes on and the story unfolds.
They are reading an E. Nesbit book. Not one I've read, but it was published in 1907. Books from the a few decades later - the 30s 40s and 50s they don't seem to have any trouble with - I gave G the Elizabeth Enright quartet for Christmas and they didn't seem to have any trouble with it - depression into WWII era that it is.
Now, I remember Nesbit being pretty formal language-wise, and also terribly English - so perhaps that is part of it. Apparently a lot of the descriptions were difficult to suss out for them - rich descriptions of the land and such.
Now, when I was G's age I was given (by my crazy grandmother) a book written in 1881 which I loved, quite literally to pieces. I still have all the pieces bound together with string. I have replaced the book a couple of times with hardcover copies, but that first book, printed probably sometime in the sixties or seventies if I recall the cover, opened up the use of language in fiction. I love books written between 1880 and 1930 or so - especially those for children. Of course I focused on American authors - Gene Stratton Porter, Eleanor Porter, Margaret Sidney, Inez Haynes Irwin (Gillmore), Louisa May Alcott, Thornton Burgess, etc., so perhaps the language is or was more accessible to me.
Of course, I was a different sort of reader then either B or G. I got a beautiful copy of Jane Eyre as a birthday gift from my uncle when I was a tween and my mother and I read it together - the bits of french and all! At the same time I ate up science fiction and fantasy novels - any I could find.
Are there any books you tried to read as a kid, or with your kids, that you found unaccessible because of language barriers? Or do you think that is Not An Excuse to Put Down a Book? As reading is currently a group activity, I can see where it would be frustrating to have to inturrpt the story every few minutes to explain what the author is talking about. Especially as B is a chatterbox who does not settle down and do anything quietly - she is wired Always On - which is exhausting anyway.
They are reading an E. Nesbit book. Not one I've read, but it was published in 1907. Books from the a few decades later - the 30s 40s and 50s they don't seem to have any trouble with - I gave G the Elizabeth Enright quartet for Christmas and they didn't seem to have any trouble with it - depression into WWII era that it is.
Now, I remember Nesbit being pretty formal language-wise, and also terribly English - so perhaps that is part of it. Apparently a lot of the descriptions were difficult to suss out for them - rich descriptions of the land and such.
Now, when I was G's age I was given (by my crazy grandmother) a book written in 1881 which I loved, quite literally to pieces. I still have all the pieces bound together with string. I have replaced the book a couple of times with hardcover copies, but that first book, printed probably sometime in the sixties or seventies if I recall the cover, opened up the use of language in fiction. I love books written between 1880 and 1930 or so - especially those for children. Of course I focused on American authors - Gene Stratton Porter, Eleanor Porter, Margaret Sidney, Inez Haynes Irwin (Gillmore), Louisa May Alcott, Thornton Burgess, etc., so perhaps the language is or was more accessible to me.
Of course, I was a different sort of reader then either B or G. I got a beautiful copy of Jane Eyre as a birthday gift from my uncle when I was a tween and my mother and I read it together - the bits of french and all! At the same time I ate up science fiction and fantasy novels - any I could find.
Are there any books you tried to read as a kid, or with your kids, that you found unaccessible because of language barriers? Or do you think that is Not An Excuse to Put Down a Book? As reading is currently a group activity, I can see where it would be frustrating to have to inturrpt the story every few minutes to explain what the author is talking about. Especially as B is a chatterbox who does not settle down and do anything quietly - she is wired Always On - which is exhausting anyway.
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