Early Readers Deserve Good Writing, Too

Beginning readers don’t just need books that are easy to read, they deserve books that engage their interest and encourage enjoyment in reading, like the fun How to Find Bigfoot.

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Book cover, title "How to Find Bigfoot" by Thomas Kingsley Troupe.

Thomas Kingsley Troupe’s How to Find Bigfoot proves that beginning readers can handle facts wrapped in personality, wit, and genuine storytelling. It’s every bit as accessible as the books on the shelf next to it—but infinitely more enjoyable to read aloud or alone.

Rather than simply listing characteristics, Troupe adopts the playful voice of someone who is as genuinely delighted by the subject matter as his young readers tend to be. Under “Diet,” for example, he explains:

A big assumption in children’s publishing is that beginning readers need simple language—and they do. The mistake involved is assuming that simple language can be nothing other than dull. When we reduce early-reader nonfiction to lists of facts in short sentences, we aren’t respecting children’s developing reading skills, we’re underestimating their imagination.

I was reminded of this while thumbing through two early-reader books about cryptids—the legendary creatures of folklore. The books were remarkably similar on paper, ticking all the same boxes. Both featured easy sentences, controlled vocabulary, and colorful illustrations, as well as a glossary, an index, suggestions for further reading, recommended websites, and a final page intended to extend the reading experience.

Only one was enjoyable to read.

It’s an absurd joke based on an ordinary social rule, but it immediately engages the reader and then segues directly into the actual folklore. The joke isn’t a distraction from the information; it’s the vehicle that carries it.

Throughout the book, little humorous asides add more information about the legend or more silly twists to delight readers: “no one has ever found a Bigfoot skeleton” and “no one has ever actually seen a periwinkle Bigfoot.” The result is a book that manages to pass on the folklore without making it feeling like a technical manual.

The book about hippogriffs was on the shelf right next to Bigfoot but takes the opposite approach. Every sentence dutifully delivers another fact, and the informational sidebars do much the same. One section reads:

“Bigfoot creatures aren’t allowed in restaurants. Why? Because they don’t wear shoes. The creatures must eat what they find in the woods. They often eat fruits and berries.”

Same information. Same reading level. But now readers have the sense of being invited to engage with the subject, rather than just reading a list of facts.

That contrast illustrates a larger problem in children’s nonfiction. Somewhere along the way, many educational books began treating readability as if personality were expendable. Whether the goal was standardization, readability formulas, or simply playing it safe, the result has often been books that children can read but have little reason to want to read.

If a young learner is struggling to read, why continue the struggle when there is so little reward? High interest text increases motivation and engagement, with the natural result of increased reading ability.

Children are perfectly capable of appreciating style. Anyone who has watched a preschooler demand the same picture book fifty times in a row already knows this. Children respond to rhythm, surprise, humor, and voice long before they can understand what those things are. Beginning readers don’t suddenly lose that appreciation just because they have started decoding words for themselves.

A controlled vocabulary may be a technical requirement, but it should not be treated as a literary style.

In fact, writing well within those constraints is harder, not easier. With fewer words available, each one needs to work harder. Humor has to come from ideas rather than clever vocabulary. Voice has to emerge through sentence rhythm, perspective, and carefully chosen details. Good early-reader authors accomplish all of this while never making the text feel difficult.

That is craftsmanship.

The final page of each book again demonstrated the difference. One ended with a short story that should have been exciting—a sorceress rides her hippogriff beyond the clouds to rescue a captured prince—but is as dry as the rest of the book, plodding forward with no variation in sentence structure or excitement level. It isn’t wrong; it simply isn’t engaging.

The other ended with thoughtful questions: Why do people find Bigfoot stories so fascinating? Why has no one ever found a Bigfoot skeleton? Whether children answer them correctly is almost beside the point. The questions invite curiosity and encourage young readers to think beyond the final page.

Both books adequately convey information about their respective cryptid creature. Only one does it in a way to engage readers and invite them to wonder beyond the closed covers. Children deserve both.

Too many educational books forget that nonfiction does not have to be simply a list of facts lined up in logical order with appropriate illustrations. If the goal were merely to practice decoding written language, then lists of dry facts would be fine. But if the goal is to help children learn to decode language in order to find the joy of reading and become lifelong readers, then the books themselves must contain some joy. They needn’t all be laugh-out-loud funny, but authors should remember that lists of facts alone rarely create readers.

Books don’t create lifelong readers because they’re easy. They create lifelong readers because they’re rewarding.

Good writing creates readers.

From my shelf to yours,
~ Carma

They have sharp beaks and claws. Only magical people can train hippogriffs.

Anyone who wants to tame a hippogriff needs magic and courage. Their sharp beaks and claws can be dangerous.

What if instead it said something along these lines:

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Early Readers Deserve Good Writing, Too

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