Children's books that don't quite rhyme

[PolarBlair]

Does anyone else find this so annoying?
I have no problem with books that don't rhyme at all.
Then there are geniuses like Julia Donaldson and Dr Seuss where it rhymes and flows so well.

But the ones I find so annoying are the ones where the syllables are off, the rhymes are not quite rhymes (in any accent), the same word has been used twice to make line A & B rhyme.

These are often self published but do the authors not realise? Do they not ask friends?

I often want to take a red pen, correct them, and send them back

I can't take to JD since she rhymed "war" with "dinosaur". I don't need references to war in a pre-school storybook.

Much as I love Julia Donaldson, she is terrible for this..

"Here comes a boy in a warm woolly scarf, and arm for my snowman, he says with a laugh". etc.

Just no.

I can read Tiddler really well 😇

Thank you! The whole lot is not enjoyable to read. And I read one clunky page and there's still the whole rest of the book to go.
I think I will hide it. Neither I nor DH like reading these books

Madeline had this perfect:

“In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines
Lived twelve little girls in two straight lines
In two straight lines they broke their bread
And brushed their teeth and went to bed.
They left the house at half past nine
In two straight lines in rain or shine-
The smallest one was Madeline.”

Loved it very much when my kids were small but the last line is too short! It only works if you put emphasis on each syllable of the name.

I could never work out how it translated so well from the French, until I read up on it and apparently it was written during the war in English but set in Paris.

I struggle with 'aunt' and 'chant' in Superworm. They don't rhyme in my accent at all!

I read her name in this as Mad-eh-line (as in a straight line) though I would usually say Mad-eh-lin.
What a beautiful rhyming structure 😊

They rhyme perfectly in mine!
I don't mind these words too much as I know they'll rhyme in some accents. Though laugh and scarf make me grimace

It's the wrong number of syllables and misplaced stress that make me clench my teeth 😂

I am aware that my thread title is not precise, turns out not quite rhyming isn't my number one issue 😂

I agree with everyone about the Highway Rat tho, I really struggle to repeat the words 3 times it just doesn't flow! I do 2 and she hasn't noticed yet 😂

I realised a few of my books were supposed to rhyme but don’t in my accent. Chance/pants, rain/again - these don’t rhyme in my voice.

Just perfect.

This is how I want the books to flow.

I regularly miss out lines in JD books or change words around to make them flow better.
Tabby Mctat and room on the broom.
I miss that repeating line out of The highway rat and share the hate of Dragon Stew.

I know there is a correct term but I really dislike the 5 liners she uses in some books. 4 lines is just neater and easier to read.

@SpacePotato Thanks :D Writing is my hobby and I used to specialise in poetry when I was younger, in a kind of savant way (I'm autistic), but then turned to prose as I got older.

YES this is the worst fault of children’s books!!!! David Walliams’ books are absolutely garbage. I know JD’s aren’t always perfect but she’s light years ahead of some of the competition!

It’s great when you get a book with really satisfying rhymes though. I of course now can’t think of my favourites 😂

I love Ogden Nash, who made a feature of his awful rhymes, like this one from The Tale of Custard the Dragon - 'Meowch!' cried Ink, and 'Ooh!' cried Belinda/For there was a pirate, climbing in the winda.

For those of you with issues with the highway rat. It's a direct spoof of the highwayman (first published in 1906). The original is very exciting. Google it! The highway rat is my favourite Julia Donaldson!

The Highwayman
BY ALFRED NOYES
PART ONE

The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees.

The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas.

The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,

And the highwayman came riding—
Riding—riding—
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.

It took me, and my American accent, a while to figure out that the Farmer's Llamas is supposed to rhyme.

Love this thread! I can’t get the bit in The Scarecrows’ Wedding with ‘certain’ and ‘old farmhouse curtain’ to work! Is that just me? Also agree on the repeated bits in The Highway Rat, ‘scarf’/ ‘laugh’ and ‘aunt’/ ‘chant’! Tiddler took a few goes but I think I’ve got it down now and it’s become one of my faves 😂

I don't have a problem with the majority of JD books but I do struggle to get Tiddler to flow. Especially the page where Tiddler "didn't see the net". To me it doesn't even attempt to rhyme.

I struggle to write poems though so to me JD is a genius.

i like JDs rhymes some more than others

Squash and a Squeeze is my favourite to say - particularly curious plan line

Tabby McTat is good too

Not keen on Smartest Giant book as story is annoying and a bit long

Nor Unicorn book with other illustrator

By far worse books we have are The Slightly Annoying Elephant by David Walliams, and Pigs Might Fly which has terrible story, illustrations and words

The cat in the hat comes back is an awful story and is contingent upon you pronouncing Z as 'zee' which I cannot bring myself to do.

Some of the rhymes in the 'oi' series are quite bad. I think it's oi dog which has a mule that sits on a stool.

Mine neither. I take a tip from the actor (James McAvoy?) who read it on the CBeebies bedtime story - they didn’t rhyme in his accent either so he swapped the earwig aunt with the uncle ant to make a rhyme. So rather than ‘uncle ant and earwig aunt’ I say ‘earwig aunt and uncle ant’ which saves me from having to read out the next line laike ai’m pretending to be Valerie Jones.

Here’s a reading of the original Highwayman poem, for those who struggle with the Highway Rat. It’s a really fun one to read if you do it in the style of the original.

The original Highwayman is great.

Doesn't make me like JD's rip off version though.
I don't mind the repetition in Stick man because it flows better when reading.
Personal preference.

Haha I’m Scottish so have this problem a lot!

the line that annoys me the most though is in one of the Dinosaur pooped books. It’s something like “reader beware, the next part is scary and if you read on you’ll need new underweary “. Can’t believe that made it into print!