Hating modern life

[ellieding]

I'm only posting to get this off my chest really, so not really asking to be told to 'lighten up', if responses from people who feel similarly.

I just went to dd's school book fair and was pretty aghast at what seems to be peddled to them as decent storytelling. Corporate junk written by morons marketing their brands; Lego, hello kitty, spongebob...vacuous princess fairy tripe about nothing or paired up with animals covered in sparkles. Utter 'non-stories', anachronistic, poorly written. All the fact books were presented in a vulgar 'look-at-this-hideous-dinosaur/shark/crazy snotty science/everything is gross' way. Jacqueline Wilson (the woman should be locked up to prevent her writing) with her dysfunctional nasty characters and soapy stories. 'troo-ta-life-innit-tho' - ugh.

I don't want to hear 'at least it gets them reading'. In all honesty I'd rather they weren't given this commercially saturated drivel. Also, if i have to see another soulless, vulgar cartoon...

I appreciate this may sound ott, but i honestly find it all genuinely jarring and horrid.

The Sunday Times 100 Best Children’s Books of the Last 10 Years

7 – 9
Michael Rosen’s Sad Book by Michael Rosen
Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Dinosaurs by Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart
Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman
Horrible Histories: Villainous Victorians by Terry Deary
Kidnapped! by Jeremy Strong
Pinocchio by Pinocchio by Michael Morpurgo
The Ogre of Oglefort by Eva Ibbotson
The Pilot and the Little Prince: the Life of Antoine de Saint-Exupery by Peter Sis
How to Steal a Dragon’s Sword by Cressida Cowell
Dead Man’s Cove by Lauren St John
You’re A Bad Man, Mr Gum! by Andy Stanton
The Arrival by Shaun Tan
Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made by Stephen Pastis
Conrad’s Fate by Diana Wynne Jones
Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse by Chris Riddell
Hetty Feather by Jacqueline Wilson
Ruby Redfort: Look Into My Eyes by Lauren Child
Tales from the Brothers Grimm by Lisbeth Zwerger
The Brilliant World of Tom Gates by Liz Pichon
White Dolphin by Gill Lewis

The Sunday Times 100 Best Children’s Books of the Last 10 Years

10 – 12
Grace by Morris Gleitzman
Alex, the Dog and the Unopenable Door by Ross Montgomery
Binny for Short by Hilary McKay
Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce
Dark Lord: The Teenage Years by Jamie Thomson
Russian Roulette by Anthony Horowitz
The Boyhood of Burglar Bill by Allan Ahlberg
The Phenomenals: A Tangle of Traitors by FE Higgins
Wonder by RJ Palacio
Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell
Larklight by Philip Reeve
Airman by Eoin Colfer
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling
Heroes of the Valley by Jonathan Stroud
The Child’s Elephant by Rachel Campbell-Johnston
Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver
Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge
Trash by Andy Mulligan
The Seeing by Diana Hendry

While I see your point, there are lots of beautiful modern books out there. I was in my local waterstones the other day and had to physically restrain myself from spending money I don't have. And it's never been easier to access second hand books so picking up the classics is a doddle.

So I think you're being a little bit U. Just bypass the crap and focus on the good stuff.

It is a bit depressing that this is the best the school book fair can offer. But those things have always been very commercialised, even in my day.

YANBU. I utterly agree with you. Our buying guide for children's books in this house is "no sparkly covers", which cuts out about 80% of the drivel. Jacqueline Wilson is automatically discarded. Then we read the blurb on what's left.

This method leaves a pleasingly restricted selection of much better quality books.

The Sunday Times 100 Best Children’s Books of the Last 10 Years

13+
A Greyhound of a Girl by Roddy Doyle
Jackdaw Summer by David Almond
My Sister Lives on the Mantlepiece by Annabel Pitcher
Ostrich Boys by Keith Gray
Picture Me Gone by Meg Rosoff
Reckless by Cornelia Funke
Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick
Startled by His Furry Shorts by Louise Rennison
Stripes of the Sidestep Wolf by Sonya Hartnett
The Road of Bones by Anne Fine
Apocalypse by Tim Bowler
Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner
Noble Conflict by Malorie Blackman
The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant
The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean
A Swift Pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd
Life: An Exploded Diagram by Mal Peet
The Bunker Diary by Kevin Brooks
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

best by whose criteria? Some of those for 7-9 yr olds are dire - always in the library's "top picks" section where we are, but really, really dire...

Dead Man's Cove is just rehashed Enid Blyton adventures written more childishly,
Conrad's fate in the same vein,
Goth girl - I cannot find the words to describe - a book full of literary references that grown ups would understand - but goes way over the heads of this age group - Gormenghast lite..,
White Dolphin could have been written better by Morpurgo

As chosen by Nicolette Jones... no idea who she is.

I help produce a Christmas books catalogue for independent bookshops. A lot of these books, or books by these authors, have been selected over the years for these - maybe they were all bestsellers.

What's MN's beef with Jacqueline Wilson btw? She always struck me as a talented storyteller and very popular with the kids.

I should say that I haven't been exposed to any of her more recent stuff, so potentially she's gone downhill, but just interested.

I agree about churned out commercial rubbish, it is soul destroying stuff and the worst bit is that it isnt possible to "opt out" if the school stocks books like that!

I'm sure it put my DSS off reading because he was forced to read sub-standard books in his primary school. He bought book after book home but they just sat in his bag unread. He enjoys Tintin because he's a very visual reader and enjoys the text and animation. They only stocked 1 book out of about 20 in his school! Gerald Durrell series are excellent for older children, beautifully written.

Loved The Little House on the Prairie books as a girl!

But rainbow fairies are sparkling literature compared to the cartoon character led merchandising they sell at our book fair. I was very happy for DD to read rainbow fairies as she built up reading stamina. This is about the dross they sell at our book fair. I've recently binned the Chuggington book I was conned into buying there - incoherent rubbish and not engaging for DCs beyond one flick through. They don't have to be classics but fun readable compelling stuff. Quickly knocked off marketing junk is not suitable for sale in schools.

Interesting deakymum do you self publish as well?

I looked forward to making up stories for my child before he was born but found to my distress that despite a childhood entirely taken up with reading classic children's books and Blue Peter annuals that i have no imagination at all.

YANBU. There is so much crappy, tacky reading material being pushed at children nowadays that the good stuff (and there is some brilliant children's writing going on) is in danger of getting lost in the middle of it all.
Even children's comics have gone way downhill. All the old, story led ones like Bunty and Judy have disappeared and been replaced by television inspired rubbish which most kids only seem to want for the 'free' gift sellotaped to the front.