Not so long ago I was in the library with the children. I think it was during one of the summer puppet shows (Michael was not a fan) because I was reading with Michael in the children's room while Harper attended the show. That day we happened to be reading Biscuit books.
As Michael and I were reading and discussing the pictures, an adorable little girl kept edging closer and closer, clearly interested in our story/conversation. At the conclusion of one book I asked her, "Do you like Biscuit? We're big Biscuit fans in our house."
She smiled at me and said, "My mother says they're twaddle."
Okay.
Um, I mean Biscuit stories aren't intricate but they are beginning readers so they really aren't supposed to be. They are sweet and easy to read to a squirrelly three-year-old who can feel competent as he chimes in to familiar sentences.
This little girl could not possibly have been more than five. It made me wonder what her bookshelf at home looks like... What else does her mother consider twaddle?
I can't argue that Biscuit books will go down in history as some of the greatest-ever contributions to children's literature, but I will happily allow my children to enjoy them for as long as they'd like.
Do you know Biscuit? Is my pointed disdain for Barbie books the same as this girl's mother calling Biscuit twaddle?
Please discuss!
Also, twaddle, I kind of like that word. I'm quite certain I'd never typed it before today.
8 comments:
1) I think Biscuit is cute and sweet. Spot drives me crazy, but even when something drives me crazy, if my kids like it, I don't dismiss it (see also, The Wiggles).
2) This 5 year old said "my mother"?
3) I just looked up "twaddle" on dictionary.com. At first I thought you were typing a word she has mispronounced. True story.
Apparently I read too much twaddle--since i don't even know what that word means! Know what- if it motivates kids to read, I don't much care what it is. I may groan and hope to heaven my son won't bring walter the farting dog home- but at the end of the day it helped him learn to read and we had fun.
Biscuit is fine...probably half of what that mom says is twaddle. And I had to look up twaddle as well. I kind of like it too!
Oooooo, this mother is asking for a fight. I'm a little peeved now.
I think this mother needs to get a life. Clearly she must say stuff about kid lit ALOT for her daughter to repeat it to a complete stranger, which suggests to me this mom should cease ranting about twaddle kid books and start teaching her child how to keep her mouth shut. I mean, my kids talk about stupid stuff to strangers but I can't imagine them ever saying something so snooty-sounding to another adult they don't know.
It really chaps my hide when parents are so weird about kid books. It's not Dickens, but they are kids. So long as they aren't reading profanity or sexual innuendo, let it go. If her 12-year-old was reading Biscuit, I could see her having an issue. But a preschooler or younger? Or even elementary if they are early reader books.
Like people who get all up in arms about Junie B. I think that girl is a frickin' riot!
I don't like twaddle, I think because it reminds me of the word "twat," which has very negative connotations.
Dang, Kelsey, your post might require me to take a Tylenol PM to settle down before bed..... ;)
I don't know Biscuit but it's now on my library get list. I don't consider any kids book rubbish (a better word I think) except of course Braney who needs to be exterminated.
Twaddle is an English word - we use it in England a lot to mean "nonsense". Carrie - the "t" word you mention in your comment is VERY rude in England and make me nearly spit my wine out, LOL!
Sounds like her mum is English and an idiot. :-)
Barney - not Braney.
@ pam-- I was telling this story to a librarian and she about spit b/c she thought I said the other twaddle word that you mentioned. Which I also didn't know. Striking new word from my vocabulary promptly!
Really??? We haven't read Biscuit, but I don't rule out any books as long as they are age appropriate. How can a mother say certain books are twaddle? BTW, I agree with Carrie that I thought of "twat"! If a book interests a child in reading, then I am all for it! I cringe when Ally brings home Barbie books, but since she's reading them herself, to each, their own! Let's face it, we all get sick of reading ANY book after we've read it to our child 10 times in a row! ;)
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