A frequent discussion in Charlotte Mason or literature-based homeschooling circles revolves around twaddle. Twaddle is a word used to describe books that are dumbed-down, formulaic, tend to be boring to the adults reading it to children, or be the type of thing you don't want to read multiple times.
“No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.”
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Books for children or adults can be twaddle. Most people that are trying to avoid 'feeding' twaddle to their kids are rejecting the idea that 'as long as they are reading, that's good' and aiming for something different, to grow the taste for stories that are not simply clean and appropriate, but nourishing by means of the ideas they contain.
Many online discussions on this topic contain comments like 'well, you can't read just the old classics all the time', 'we need light-hearted fun books too', 'well, what appeals to one person may not appeal to another', 'we all need a little dessert' etc. There are also a lot of posts: 'Is _____ twaddle' (especially for things like graphic novels, books that are silly). This misses the point to me: twaddle isn't about classic vs. newer, lighthearted vs. serious, or foregoing enjoyment. It's also not an either-or question like the Eggdicator which sends Veruca Salt down the chute as a 'bad egg'.
But neither do I consider it completely subjective. Let me introduce the twaddle-o-meter.
At the zero point of complete twaddle, I would put a Finding Nemo book someone picked up at the library once and asked me to read to them. The plot was so oversimplified that without having seen the movie, it wouldn't have made much sense. I was annoyed about .75 pages in. This is in the don't bother category for me, because we have such such better options available. It's so twaddly it doesn't even feel like a nice easy treat/break/dessert.
In the middle 50s I'd put Magic Treehouse, Geronimo Stilton. A little formulaic and not likely to stand the test of time, not as annoying as the 'zero' books, shallowly educational. I don't ban these books, but I don't buy them and I rarely use my time to read them aloud. They can be good learn-to-read tools.
At the 90-100 end I'd put books that stick with you, that make you think, that you can recognize as beautifully written. I wish there was a word for THIS end of the spectrum so that we could talk positively about what we are aiming for rather than the twaddle we avoid. Something that communicated that a book is nourishing and idea-ful.
After we finished 'Where the Mountain Meets the Moon', one of my kids said 'the thing I like about that book is that all the parts fit together' (and indeed there are a lot of plot elements that weave together cleverly and beautifully, some of them you don't understand until the end). This is a recently published book. Older books that I think would fit this category include 'Heidi' or 'Understood Betsy.'
What books would you place at 0, 50 and 100? Which range do you not bother reading yourself, and which range do you try to steer your kids away from?
Do you need to experience the zeros, the 10s, the 20s in order to learn discernment, have a richer and broader life experience, etc? Probably not very much. This summer we got books with our school sack lunches once. No choices asked they just handed us 3 books with the 3 lunches. We never read them...one of the titles had slime in it? My boys love slime, silliness and all that, they are reluctant to part with anything, and the libraries had been closed for months on end. However, they still put the books straight in the thrift store pile with polite but disappointed comments like 'well, maybe someone else can use it.' Maybe I'm raising snobs; they ate the lunches too but were confused why the school would give out so many [un]Lucky Charms during a pandemic when everyone is supposedly trying to stay healthy. I think a strong parallel can be made; Lucky Charms are better than nothing to eat, but we don't eat them 5 mornings a week and say 'at least they are eating' when we have the ability to enjoy something that is healthier AND more enjoyable.
Is it a privilege to have a choice at all? Yes, and we try to use our book budget dollars and those library check-out 'votes' to encourage a menu and a palate that focuses on things that are worthwhile, satisfying, appealing.
