Books for Kids

I love to read books for kids, especially middle grade (also called Tweener) ones. I do that partly because they're usually short enough to be read in an hour or two so I don't have to put them down in the middle of an exciting scene. Another reason is that I know they probably won't be sordid or have depressing endings. Of course an important reason to read them is that I write books for kids myself. Reading others helps me do that better because I can see what does and doesn't work well.

Lately I've re-read some of the old classics I enjoyed when I was a child myself. Most of those wouldn't have a chance of getting published today. They don't start in the middle of the action and include far too much description. In some of them the main characters don't even have a strong goal.

Modern kids are so accustomed to the fast pace of TV and electronic entertainment that many of them wouldn't have the patience to read some of the old faithful books, but those still have the ability to carry the readers into a different world.