Strive for your children to be well-read, not widely read.

According to Sally Clarkson, a LIVING BOOK is the literary expression of insights and ideas in a single work, by a single author, who knows and loves the subject about which he writes.  It is a living book because the author touches the heart of the reader – the emotions and feelings.

TWADDLE comes in many forms.  It’s best to show them as examples.

Commercial books – cartoon & media character books that are thinly veiled advertisements for tie-in products, publications and production.  Some examples may be Sesame Street, Barney, Blue’s Clues.  Don’t be fooled by the word “educational”.  That word doesn’t make the books any less twaddly.

Abridged classics – tend to give you only the bare bones of the story and leave out the literary beauty (which makes it a literary classic to begin with).  Textual abridgments are dumbed down stories – language and concepts – for easy reading.  Condensed abridgments leave out the “non-essential” content (more acceptable, but not desirable).

Formula fiction/mass market fiction – such as romance themes, violent action/adventure.  Many times these books promote bad values.  The tastes and appetites they create are enduring and difficult to satiate.  Not needed for young, impressionable minds.

Text books – are dry and factual.  They are non-literary expression of collected facts and information, impersonal in tone and feel.  Facts can be presented without creativity in a way that deadens the imagination.  Usually written by unknown various authors or contributors.