"What Makes A Good Children's Book?" Part 4 - Voice and Language. By Suzy Davies. Copyright 09/22/2016. All Rights Reserved. No Copying.

Voice.

The tone of a book, when writing for children is important, and the ideal narrator speaks to kids on their level. A sense of lightness, humor, and fun helps the book along.

The narrator should be like a very friendly neighbor, favorite aunt, uncle or grandparent, who has the kids' best interests at heart, guides them, entertains them, and gives them freedom to invent, and is not, in any way, patronizing or intrusive.

Language.

Sometimes, it is good to challenge children, to help them build vocabulary.

A good book will have a range of social sight words, and a richness of imagery and language to delight, and show forth the world of the book and its characters, in new and unexpected ways.

From dialogue in the book, children can gain social confidence, and mastery of social interaction. Children can learn to distinguish the different characters, and to "listen" to the voices that are speaking, in order to know about the personalities of the speakers. They may learn to draw inferences from what characters say, in order to predict how they will behave and act. Children learn about turn-taking in conversation, empathy, and reciprocity. They learn about role-making and taking, speaking and listening.

A good book will always contain elements of surprise, and the language of the book will add meaning and depth to the message within its pages, in fresh and unexpected ways.

Kids simply love onomatopoeia and alliteration! Experimenting and wrestling with sound is fun! And even new vocabulary will go down a treat if the descriptions are colorful and inviting.

The language in a good children's book will stimulate children to investigate, and think for themselves, and will motivate them to read, and read again.

Copyright Suzy Davies 09/22/2016. All Rights Reserved. No Copying.