Friday, November 30, 2012

Junie B. Jones Books

My 5 year old is very much into the Junie B. Jones books.  Normally I'm not bothered by her reading choices, but the Junie B. Jones books bug me.  There's nothing wrong with the content message the books send to kids.  My problem has to do with grammar.  The book is written from the point of view of a kinder-gardener, and because of this, the grammar is intentionally incorrect.  You can immediately see this in the picture I took of a random page in the book.

I marked a few grammar errors on this single page in a Junie B. Jones book.  


I have 2 problems with this intentionally incorrect grammar.

1.  It's very difficult for me to read with good flow.  My eyes cross words that shouldn't be there or shouldn't be in that form and I have to stop myself and think through the proper grammar.  Granted, this is a split second thought process, but it interrupts the flow of the story when I read it out loud to my daughter.

2.  Should we really introduce incorrect grammar to children who are just learning to read?  Is this reinforcing the incorrect grammar?  Will kids who read this or have it read to them think that the incorrect grammar is really correct?

I still read these books to my daughter, but when I read it out loud, I correct the grammar.  

P.S.  I note that my grammar is not the best, but I never intentionally introduce incorrect grammar in my blog.   If you spot incorrect grammar, I assure you that it's a mistake (or ignorance!) on my part.

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