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Today I conducted an experiment. I read DIARY OF A WIMPY KID.
The questions to be answered were twofold:
1. Could I see why the series is so popular?
2. Are they as dreadful in literacy terms as I fear?
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The questions to be answered were twofold:
1. Could I see why the series is so popular?
2. Are they as dreadful in literacy terms as I fear?
1/
If you& #39;re an English teacher or invested in any way in whole-school reading, the phrase "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" probably triggers a reflexive eye-roll. You probably suspect the books of:
- a lack of challenge
- poor vocabulary
- a lack of thematic depth
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- a lack of challenge
- poor vocabulary
- a lack of thematic depth
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But...Could I explain the appeal of these books?
Yes. Definitely.
These are the sort of books that look easy to write but aren& #39;t. The tone is very cleverly and subtly judged. They totally nail a certain type of school experience and 11 year old voice.
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Yes. Definitely.
These are the sort of books that look easy to write but aren& #39;t. The tone is very cleverly and subtly judged. They totally nail a certain type of school experience and 11 year old voice.
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To make a sweeping but I think relevant comparison with Harry Potter:
The Harry Potter books are very school-positive. School is a wonderful escape in those books, a nurturing space, a ready-made family, full of growth and possibility.
Not so in DOAWK.
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The Harry Potter books are very school-positive. School is a wonderful escape in those books, a nurturing space, a ready-made family, full of growth and possibility.
Not so in DOAWK.
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School in DOAWK is naff. It is a series of greater and lesser humiliations to be survived. Lessons, learning and teachers are comparatively unimportant.
I like the viewpoint in this book. It& #39;s authentic. There& #39;s a lesson in there for us teachers.
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I like the viewpoint in this book. It& #39;s authentic. There& #39;s a lesson in there for us teachers.
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HP is what future teachers read. Wimpy Kid is the book for students who just aren& #39;t all that invested in school. It& #39;s the book for students whose anxieties and interests outside of the classroom are just that bit more pressing than the Learning Objective of the day.
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There& #39;s a heartbreakingly bleak moment in DOAWK in which our hero Greg, forced into acting as a Tree in the school production, refuses to sing the Tree song because his brother has a video camera, thereby derailing the whole show.
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The threat of social damage done by the video of a singing tree is far more important to Greg than his parent-pleasing "big moment".
It& #39;s all a bit sad. But the point is well made.
I teach a few of these kids. We all do.
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It& #39;s all a bit sad. But the point is well made.
I teach a few of these kids. We all do.
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They don& #39;t have any particular academic aptitude, they don& #39;t attend clubs, they don& #39;t have girlfriends, they& #39;re not in the in-crowd. They would happily sit through a video lesson every lesson and never complain.
I& #39;m glad they have a series of books.
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I& #39;m glad they have a series of books.
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Now the bad.
Question number 2: Are these books as awful for reader literacy as they seem at first glance? Are my English teacher prejudices justified?
This is the part where I tell you I was wrong this whole time?
Well...no. They& #39;re pretty bad.
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Question number 2: Are these books as awful for reader literacy as they seem at first glance? Are my English teacher prejudices justified?
This is the part where I tell you I was wrong this whole time?
Well...no. They& #39;re pretty bad.
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There is almost certainly no new vocabulary to glean from these books. Many of the sentences are non-standard.
But that& #39;s not what bothers me, really.
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But that& #39;s not what bothers me, really.
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I care more about the total lack of ambition or depth in the storytelling. The books are essentially a series of vignettes -- there is little to no "story" to follow. No mystery, no ambiguity, no symbolism.
I do, overall, think these things matter.
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I do, overall, think these things matter.
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