Whatever happened to GOOD children's books?

I think it's a real problem. Read the article I recently found:

American kids, dumber than dirt

Warning: The next generation might just be the biggest pile of idiots in U.S. history

By Mark Morford, SF Gate

I have this ongoing discussion with a longtime reader who also just so happens to be a longtime Oakland high school teacher, a wonderful guy who's seen generations of teens come and generations go and who has a delightful poetic sensibility and quirky outlook on his life and his family and his beloved teaching career. And he often writes to me in response to something I might've written about the youth of today, anything where I comment on the various nefarious factors shaping their minds and their perspectives and whether or not, say, EMFs (Electric & Magnetic Fields) and junk food and cell phones are melting their brains and what can be done and just how bad it might all be. His response: It is not bad at all. It's absolutely horrifying. My friend often summarizes for me what he sees, firsthand, every day and every month, year in and year out, in his classroom. He speaks not merely of the sad decline in overall intellectual acumen among students over the years, not merely of the astonishing spread of lazy slackerhood, or the fact that cell phones and iPods and excess TV exposure are, absolutely and without reservation, short-circuiting the minds of the upcoming generations. Of this, he says, there is zero doubt. Nor does he speak merely of the notion that kids these days are overprotected and wussified and don't spend enough time outdoors and don't get any real exercise and therefore can't, say, identify basic plants, or handle a tool, or build, well, anything at all. Again, these things are a given. Widely reported, tragically ignored, nothing new. No, my friend takes it all a full step — or rather, leap — further. It is not merely a sad slide. It is not just a general dumbing down. It is far uglier than that. We are, as far as urban public education is concerned, essentially at rock bottom. We are now at a point where we are essentially churning out ignorant teens who are becoming ignorant adults and society as a whole will pay dearly, very soon, and if you think the hordes of easily terrified, mindless fundamentalist evangelical Christian lemmings have been bad for the soul of this country, just wait. It's gotten so bad that, as my friend nears retirement, he says he is very seriously considering moving out of the country so as to escape what he sees will be the surefire collapse of functioning American society in the next handful of years due to the absolutely irrefutable destruction, the shocking — and nearly hopeless — dumb-ification of the American brain. It is just that bad. Now, you may think he's merely a curmudgeon, a tired old teacher who stopped caring long ago. Not true. Teaching is his life. He says he loves his students, loves education and learning and watching young minds awaken. Problem is, he is seeing much less of it. It's a bit like the melting of the polar ice caps. Sure, there's been alarmist data about it for years, but until you see it for yourself, the deep visceral dread doesn't really hit home. He cites studies, reports, hard data, from the appalling effects of television on child brain development (i.e.; any TV exposure before 6 years old and your kid's basic cognitive wiring and spatial perceptions are pretty much scrambled for life), to the fact that, because of all the insidious mandatory testing teachers are now forced to incorporate into the curriculum, of the 182 school days in a year, there are 110 when such testing is going on somewhere at Oakland High. As one of his colleagues put it, "It's like weighing a calf twice a day, but never feeding it." But most of all, he simply observes his students, year to year, noting all the obvious evidence of teens' decreasing abilities when confronted with even the most basic intellectual tasks, from understanding simple history to working through moderately complex ideas to even (in a couple recent examples that particularly distressed him) being able to define the words "agriculture," or even "democracy." Not a single student could do it. It gets worse. My friend cites the fact that, of the 6,000 high school students he estimates he's taught over the span of his career, only a small fraction now make it to his grade with a functioning understanding of written English. They do not know how to form a sentence. They cannot write an intelligible paragraph. Recently, after giving an assignment that required drawing lines, he realized that not a single student actually knew how to use a ruler. It is, in short, nothing less than a tidal wave of dumb, with once-passionate, increasingly exasperated teachers like my friend nearly powerless to stop it. The worst part: It's not the kids' fault. They're merely the victims of a horribly failed educational system. Then our discussion often turns to the meat of it, the bigger picture, the ugly and unavoidable truism about the lack of need among the government and the power elite in this nation to create a truly effective educational system, one that actually generates intelligent, thoughtful, articulate citizens. Hell, why should they? After all, the dumber the populace, the easier it is to rule and control and launch unwinnable wars and pass laws telling them that sex is bad and TV is good and God knows all, so just pipe down and eat your Taco Bell Double-Supremo Burrito and be glad we don't arrest you for posting dirty pictures on your cute little blog. This is about when I try to offer counterevidence, a bit of optimism. For one thing, I've argued generational relativity in this space before, suggesting maybe kids are no scarier or dumber or more dangerous than they've ever been, and that maybe some of the problem is merely the same old awkward generation gap, with every current generation absolutely convinced the subsequent one is terrifically stupid and malicious and will be the end of society as a whole. Just the way it always seems. I also point out how, despite all the evidence of total public-education meltdown, I keep being surprised, keep hearing from/about teens and youth movements and actions that impress the hell out of me. Damn kids made the Internet what it is today, fer chrissakes. Revolutionized media. Broke all the rules. Still are. Hell, some of the best designers, writers, artists, poets, chefs, and so on that I meet are in their early to mid-20s. And the nation's top universities are still managing, despite a factory-churning mentality, to crank out young minds of astonishing ability and acumen. How did these kids do it? How did they escape the horrible public school system? How did they avoid the great dumbing down of America? Did they never see a TV show until they hit puberty? Were they all born and raised elsewhere, in India and Asia and Russia? Did they all go to Waldorf or Montessori and eat whole-grain breads and play with firecrackers and take long walks in wild nature? Are these kids flukes? Exceptions? Just lucky? My friend would say, well, yes, that's precisely what most of them are. Lucky, wealthy, foreign-born, private-schooled ... and increasingly rare. Most affluent parents in America — and many more who aren't — now put their kids in private schools from day one, and the smart ones give their kids no TV and minimal junk food and no video games. (Of course, this in no way guarantees a smart, attuned kid, but compared to the odds of success in the public school system, it sure seems to help). This covers about, what, 3 percent of the populace? As for the rest, well, the dystopian evidence seems overwhelming indeed, to the point where it might be no stretch at all to say the biggest threat facing America is perhaps not global warming, not perpetual warmongering, not garbage food or low-level radiation or way too much Lindsay Lohan, but a populace far too ignorant to know how to properly manage any of it, much less change it all for the better. What, too fatalistic? Don't worry. Soon enough, no one will know what the word even means

I'm with bookmom. I read to my kids every day, and I've never had a problem finding good material. Sure, there's a lot of junk (particularly books themed around tv shows or otherwise part of some marketing plan for a movie or toy or show). But there's also a lot of great stuff. Of course all the old great ones are still there (they may not be at your bookstore, but they're at your library), and so are lots of wonderful new ones. Most libraries have a list of recommendations for different age groups. It's well worth looking it up.

As for tv and computer, sure, lots of kids are watching too much. That's a choice of individual families, and while I agree it would be worth some initiatives to get more kids reading more and watching less, my kids are reading or being read to for at least an hour a day, and always have more book time than screen time. They've read all the books you've listed and literally hundreds of others that are equally good, going from toddler books right up to Narnia and Prydain and Terabithia.

There are still a LOT of good books out there. All the ones you have stated are still available. The Junie B Jones and Magic Tree House are great sets for older kids and the Mr. Putter books are amazing, some of my very favorite.

You are asking the same question every generation does. Regardless of what is on it needs to be limited. Even Reading Rainbow all day would be letting a kids mind turn to mush. And this is the computer age like it or not, it will forever be a part of society as our children know it. Everything in moderation.

You cannot generalize all kids as kids today. I agree kids have no respect etc. But my kids have do speak in complete sentences as well as write them. And do repsect adults and others. There are some of us out there who do care about these issues. And saying kids are dumbing down etc. is not fair either. if it really concerns you then go and volunteer at a school and help out, or do what you can to educate kids in your neighborhood. It is not the fault of the child, but the fault of the parent. And everyone just complaining about it will not solve it either. Volunteer and help out at a Boys & Girls Club or something similar. Start helping to solve the problem. And yes I do myself volunteer at my childrens school, and do help out their friends etc. with these things. I also buy books for their classrooms so teachers can let kids who do not have them check them out during the school year. I understand your point, but people also need to become active in solving the problem as well.

There are tons of new children's books that are good. I guess you just haven't been exposed to them.

How about "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" and "Knuffle Bunny" by Mo Willems? or "Click Clack Moo" by Doreen Cronin? "the Little Red Hen" by Jerry Pinkney?

Here is a site that will help you find some good books for kids.

http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/awardsscholarships/chi...

As for tv programs, Reading Rainbow was on PBS. Today PBS STILL has Reading Rainbow, plus a ton of other shows about reading, like Super Why! and Between the Lions.

http://pbskids.org/readingrainbow/index.html

I think the tv shows that you are describing are on channels that haven't changed their programming style-----you are just aware of it now.

So shut the tv off and kick the kids outside to play, or read a book or if the tv IS on, put it on pbs.

My parents saved all my and my brothers books from when we were young, and I plan on reading those to my son. Most of them are Berenstain Bears books, and we have nearly 50. They all have a moral or lesson, and some of the titles are "The Berenstain Bears and the Messy Room", "The Berenstain Bears and too much Junk Food", and I think the best one for this time of global warming and climate change is "The Berenstain Bears Don't Pullute (Anymore)". If you are looking for good children's books I highly recommend

Berenstain Bears books, as they don't just teach a lesson, but they actually get a child to have fun and be interested in reading.

You can get a list of the books and buy them at their website:

http://www.berenstainbearstreehouse.com/books.php

OR

http://www.berenstainbearstreehouse.com/bookshelf....

If you want your kids to read what you feel are good books, get the old ones you remember. They still sell them. I actually think today's books are getting better, compared to the "see Jane run. Run, Jane, Run!" "let's give puppy a bath" It's good to read books that make the kids actually think. And have you ever seen a children's book that encourage children to watch TV and play video games, because I haven't! Maybe you're buying the wrong ones. My ultimate favorite Kids book is called "don't make me laugh", by James Stevenson"

Some other ones are the "Don't let the pigeon _____" series by Mo Willems (yes, that's how you spell it.)

And I remember liking "The teeny Tiny Woman" a lot when I was younger.

SO true! And remember how good the cartoons used to be? They dont even play cartoons on Nick anymore, its just sitcoms like adults would watch. Children grow up too fast, they get sarcastic as soon as they can talk and they know way too much for their age, it takes all the fun out of being a kid! I only read old school classics to my son, like Dr Suess and Roland Dahl and stuff. Hopefully this is just a cultural phase that will pass. People are too concerned with making their kids as smart as can be, they miss so much of the point of being a child.

Those ones are still around. My son LOVES Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, Make Way For Ducklings, Goodnight Moon, etc. There are also some really cute new ones, such as Punk Farm.

I completely agree! I have been looking for books for my son and I have no idea where to begin. I start flipping through books and immediately put them down because they aren't even cute to me, muchless a 2 year old, you know? It seems like almost anything can be published these days.

I've only found a few tv shows for my son so far, but you are right, no reading rainbow. :( How sad!

i agree with you on the television shows kids watch.

Reading Rainbow still comes on PBS, Noggin is a good channel as well for preschool kids. so while there are a lot the bad programs there are still a lot of good ones that promote learing and fun.

As far as books go, i signed my 5 year old up at scholastics books for their Dr. Seuse series and we received 30 books and i only pay $4.99/book/ and only have to pay for 1 book a month if i want i can pay more if i want too.

they have differnt specials you can sign up for depending on your childs age, i plan on signing my 2y/o up for one as soon as i pay off this one.

its scholastic.com

Yeah, I hear you. Reading Rainbow was great. I remember Sesame Street used to teach things too like sign language, counting and other useful things. Even barney sometimes had lessons in it. now it just seems like the shows on are only there for entertainment.