This problem has been percolating for a while, but I finally hit the wall last week and want to write long letters to all the book-buying editors in New York.

Every time we go to the library, we get a big stack of children’s books and HOPE that this time, we’ll get something interesting. Because you know what? Lately the books being put out for children have been total crap. Not only are they “dumbed down”, with the language being overly simplistic, but the stories are boooooring, the characters and dialogue aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on, and the overall quality is just, well, enough to make me want to pull my hair out.

The latest mad craze in children’s publishing is the “multicultural” theme.  Which would be great – if the stories themselves were any good! But instead we’re treated to empty bland stories that are just vehicles to introduce different cultures. That, by itself, is boring. Kids want action, adventure, talking animals, faraway places…instead we’re reading stuff like Emilio and His Grandmother Make Sopapilla: “Watch them make the dough. Watch them fry it. The End.” ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Then there’s the “Let’s Teach Children Important Lessons” theme, which has nothing to do with “Important Lessons” like not lying, not stealing, or treating people with kindness, etc. Now the Important Lessons are things like “Big Corporations Are Evil”. Seriously, are you freaking kidding me?

We tried to read this book, which was about a Big Evil Corporation trying to take over the North Pole and abuse Santa and the Elves. The dialogue was atrocious, the story was stupid (6 year olds cannot grasp the reasons behind why WalMart is evil), and it got to the point where I couldn’t even bring myself to finish it. I looked at my daughter and said:

“Honey, I just can’t read this.”

She goes:

“Yeah, this is bad. Let’s read something else.”

So there you have it. The problem with most children’s books today. Combine that with the really lame books being put out that feature Barbie and the Disney Princesses, and you’ve got very little to inspire kids to love reading! My mom came to visit a couple weeks ago and was trying to read a library book to my daughter.. and she came to me later and said “What’s with these books? They’re terrible!” I was like “I KNOW!!”

So I started thinking about the books I loved as a child. And I remembered a set of encyclopedia-looking books that sat in my grandmother’s hallway, that I used to take to bed and read for hours. This launched me on a big search, asking my family members if they remembered those books, and looking online. Turns out, this set was published in Britain for children starting in the 1920’s. And there are still sets you can find in the antique book dealers and on Ebay – so I snagged a set.

And it’s been heaven. The first volume starts with nursery rhymes for babies, and each volume gets progressively more difficult and involved – they are meant to grow with your children. And the stories are from all over the world – but they’re actual stories! They include folk tales from Korea, Japan, the Philippines, India, and lots of old European tales (Finnish, Spanish, French, etc). The only politically incorrect problem is that the old editions before the 1950’s include a story called Little Black Sambo – which later got changed to Rajah and the Tiger. (The story is the same though.) So that’s the only snafu with buying a really old edition.

My Bookhouse

My daughter is enthralled with these – whereas she gets bored and can’t even pay attention to the books we get from the library. I recommend getting an old set (mine is from the 1930’s), because in later editions the language started getting heavily edited. You can see an example of this here (scroll down a bit and check out the difference in The Two Crabs). So this has been a trend for a long time, as far as making children’s books more and more simplistic. Plus I’m just nostalgic and I like really old books. If you buy these through an antique dealer they could set you back $500, depending on the condition. I snagged my set on Ebay for less than $50.

When my daughter gets older there will always be Nancy Drew and a whole slew of great books for older readers – but for younger kids the selection is just awful. I hope some editors in New York read this post. hmph.