MRBP #7: Criteria for a Good Book

This was first pub­lished in June  of 2012. It has been read so often that it’s #7 on the count­down of Most Read Blog Posts. Not writ­ten by me, it still holds up as sound advice.

Some years ago a young stu­dent (I no longer have name or where­abouts) sent me the fol­low­ing “Cri­te­ria for a good book.” I believe it was a stu­dent assign­ment. In any case, here it is, just as it was sent (and spelled). I’ve nev­er read a bet­ter analy­sis of what children’s lit­er­a­ture is.

Cri­te­ria for a good book

1. Cor­rict spelling
2. Good para­graphs
3. Understanable—maks sense and words aren’t too hard
4. Begin­ning, mud­dle, end
5. action (not dull)
6. com­plete sentences
7. Good char­ac­ture descriptions
8. Lots of details and descriptions
9. Fun­ny once in a while
10. Friendsmin­ship
11. Nice size letters
12. Solu­tion to problem—any problem
13. Lots of mony in it
14. Hast to have let­ters not blank pages
15. Char­ac­ters have clothes on
16. You know where you are with­out using a book mark