Children's Literature the Law of the Right Vocabulary

Nancy Bond is the author of several books, but the one we know is her first, The String in the Harp. Set in Wales, it’s an eery but compelling fantasy with time travel elements. The Time-travel element is unusual in that characters can witness some events from the past, but they cannot participate or interact, like ghosts, only they haven’t died; they haven’t even been born.

One of the main characters has found an ancient harp-key that at times seems to open a window into the past- but this is fraying the fabric of both past and present. Peter, the main character, must find a way to return the object to its rightful owner. My fourth daughter may have summed it up when she said, “It was weird, but I read it twice.”

Those uncomfortable with anything smacking of magic or fantasy won’t like this one, and I would recommend looking for it at your library before buying it. I did enjoy it and we have a copy on our bookshelves. We picked up ours at a used booksale.

There is an interview with her here. Budding writers will find it interesting because she talks about the craft of writing.There is a tantalizing reference or two to Charlotte Guest’s retelling of the Mabinogion, as well as the books of Rosemary Sutcliffe and TH White’s Once and Future King.

I found myself more and more interested in Bond and her ideas about writing and how she goes about it, and then I was brought up with a jolt by this:

If I were to write for younger children, I think I would have to be very aware of the kind of language and number of words I use. I deliberately chose to write for older children because I didn’t want to think about such matters. I just wanted to write a story.

It’s true, she would have to be very aware of the ‘number of words’ she used if she was writing a book for younger children to read themselves and she wished a publisher to accept that title. But isn’t that sad? It reminded me of this quote from Phyllis McGinley’s Sixpence in Her Shoe (a book every reading mother should have on her shelves):

From the first nursery rhyme to the last Arthurian legend, they [children] should have what even their elders do not often get in a story- accomplished style, honest motivation, characters proficiently drawn.

And while those qualities can be found here if one searches, the mass of the writing is limp, listless, unoriginal, mediocre, and humdrum. Plots are insipid or mechanical. Too many pictures smother the story. And even when the writing lifts itself above accepted ‘juvenile standards, its vigor is drained away by that leech among publishing structures- the Law of the Right Vocabulary….

Emphasis mine. Mrs. McGinley then tells a charming story about the day her 5 year old daughter was home from school ill and confined to bed. To while away the time her mother began to read to her. She merely picked up the closest book to hand, and it was The Wind in the Willows. Even Mrs. McGinley began to have misgivings, she says:

“Look dear,” I said, “preparing to shut the pages, these are awfully hard words. I think the book is too old for you.”
The patient was not only firm, she was distraught. “I don’t care,” she cried. “I don’t care if it’s too hard for me. I don’t care if I can’t understand the words. I just want to hear that story.”

And so she read on, and her daughter absolutely loved it.

I wonder how many fine writers of the same caliber as Nancy Bond have been dissuaded from writing for younger children because they believe they would have to count words and syllables and measure them out with a parsimonious and cheeseparing hand.

It's a tragedy we cannot even measure.