A while ago I posted an interview here with Miranda, a very special person to me. Recently, I asked her similar questions about her reading habits and those of kids she knows. The answers show a trajectory and are useful information for writers, so I also posted this on www.writersrumpus.com.
Nine-year-old Miranda and I went for a walk. She told me what she thinks about books.
Here’s what she said.
Topics that some kids like (kids that I know):
- Fluffy kitty cat books (I hate them completely)
- Books with some scary moments and action (I personally like these best :)
- Craft books like how to decorate cupcakes, paper mache or mask making
- Humorous books like Junie B. Jones
- Romance with a little bit of horror
- New stories with older settings or a combo of two older stories with a new twist.
The best rated stories have…
Only a few scary moments so you don’t get nightmares for a week or so.
Something real has to happen (unlike I bought a kitty and named it Lucie and I put a bow in her hair. The end. BORING!)
A little realistic drama (NO fainting randomly and other random things like SUPER MAN TO THE rescue!)
No cartoons except Diary of a Wimpy Kid (whole series)
Which character is most important?
The heroine/hero and the evil witch, wizard or whatever is in the story.
For example: The Hobbit. In the story a little hobbit named Bilbo wanted to live in peace and quiet. When his wizard friend drops by and talks to him and then leaves he finds that the next day there are a whole group of homeless dwarfs sitting in his house talking. They pull him in to a crazy adventure of rafting, dragons and all sorts of crazy dangers that he never even thought of. He stayed calm and went anyway and never gave up.
The evil person, character, or whatever is important (I actually think it’s most important) because if they weren’t  there what would the hero do?
A final thought from Miranda age 9:
School kids should have library class twice a week (at least) so that they can actually have time to read ‘cause kids really do need to read more than they do now.
Miranda, at 13, has this to say:
All in all I think that if there were more stories set in Shakespeare’s time with beautiful story lines such as his were I would read a lot more (of them).
