Repetitive Sentences vs. An Interesting Storyline

Use this forum to discuss the July 2018 Book of the Month "Toni the Superhero" by R.D. Base
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Re: Repetitive Sentences vs. An Interesting Storyline

Post by Ashiyya Tariq »

haleygerstenberg wrote: โ†‘18 Jul 2018, 14:55
Bianka Walter wrote: โ†‘01 Jul 2018, 10:24 This was my biggest problem with this story. I don't think it needs to be one or the other. Especially if there are follow-on books. There could have been a bit more depth to the story, while keeping the sentences simple enough to read and understand.
If Dick and Jane could do it, I'm sure Toni can too.
That's a really good point about Dick and Jane, I was trying to think of a good example of simplistic writing + interesting enough story, and you hit the nail on the head.
The book is mostly focusing on one topic with repetition, that's why I had pointed out that there should no more variation by adding dislikes as it gives variety and a balanced plot of the story.
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Post by Ashiyya Tariq »

nikkyteewhy wrote: โ†‘18 Jul 2018, 21:06 I think that having repetitive sentences is more important than an interesting plot in a children's book. Or better still, a balance between the two is the best choice I will go with. Both repetitive sentences, to help with their vocabulary development and interesting plot to prevent boredom.
Of course both are the core requirements. An interesting story line to retain the interest of a child and repetitive sentences so that children could learn and remember the vocabulary.
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Post by Ashiyya Tariq »

Allyseria wrote: โ†‘26 Jul 2018, 19:13 From my experience, young readers like repetitive sentences in books because it helps them build confidence in their reading skills. They like it when they can read a whole book on their own with little to no help and as a result, it builds their enjoyment in reading. When they're young, they're not really bothered by whether a book has an interesting story line or not. So for me, I would buy these kind of books for my children until they've mastered the majority of the words. Afterwards, I would move on to slightly harder books until eventually, I'd look for books with an interesting story line.
No doubt vocabulary is the core of children books but to maintain the interest of children, an interesting storyline is must.
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Post by kfwilson6 »

Sarah Tariq wrote: โ†‘31 Jul 2018, 22:06
nikkyteewhy wrote: โ†‘18 Jul 2018, 21:06 I think that having repetitive sentences is more important than an interesting plot in a children's book. Or better still, a balance between the two is the best choice I will go with. Both repetitive sentences, to help with their vocabulary development and interesting plot to prevent boredom.
Of course both are the core requirements. An interesting story line to retain the interest of a child and repetitive sentences so that children could learn and remember the vocabulary.
I don't think children require a plot at all to enjoy a book. That's why ABC and 123 books are so popular with early reading. They enjoy the most basic items in a book. No complexity required.
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Post by kfwilson6 »

Eva Darrington wrote: โ†‘27 Jul 2018, 00:22 I think an important part of reading comprehension is confidence. I agree with Allyseria. Younger readers may need the repetition. When comprehension is lacking, interest in reading diminishes quickly. For a certain age, repetition serves to assist with spelling and sentence structure ability, as well as comprehension. I guess it all depends on the target age group of the book. Good discussion.
Reading can definitely be a struggle for some kids. It is great for authors of books for beginning readers to keep this in mind and do what they can to capture a child's interest.
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Post by Shrabastee Chakraborty »

bookowlie wrote: โ†‘01 Jul 2018, 08:34 Having simple repetitive sentences in a children's book helps kids learn to read. However, it makes the story less interesting because there is either a weak plot or no plot at all. In this case, there wasn't even steps in the plot such as a character baking a cake from beginning to end. Instead, there were just a different activity shown on each page. Would the lack of a traditional plot make a child less interested or would the child love the book even more because they could master the words quicker and gain confidence?
I find this a very thoughtful question. I believe whether the children will be interested or not depends on their age and level of maturity. The intended audience of this book is children just learning to read. For them the repetitive sentences might be helpful. But the use of an interesting storyline in addition to simple sentences might have been more attractive. I am looking forward to reading the next books in this series to find out if the sentence structures get more complex or a simple plot is used. These might be useful for the next level of readers,those who have already mastered the basics and are looking for more.
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To me repititive sentences have more impact in a childs intellect. As long as the author choses the right words that triggers a child's imaginative side. Couple it with colorful pictures to support the story would definitely ignite the readers senses most especially children. This removes the boredom that a kid might encounter at the middle or sometimes at the beginning of the story. Subjectively and objectively speaking a child has a more inquisitve and imaginary mind so conveying a repititive sentences in a story fill in the gaps.
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Post by Carly-maricque »

I think it depends on the purpose of the book. As a teacher, I see this book as a beginner reader book so the repetitive sentences are very important! Repetitive sentences allow for young children to learn how to read and be successful reading.
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Post by [Valerie Allen] »

However, keep in mind, as the author states, "this book is not intended as a reading book with a traditional plot", therefore, I urge you not to think of it as an average, read-out-loud bedtime story, but rather a hopeful teaching tool for your young listeners and budding readers to be used at home, on-the-go, in the classroom and beyond, whereas, the idea is to simply "build and promote early reading and daily life skills".
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Post by lavellan »

I think that the repetition of sentence structures limits the book to younger audiences. Older children probably would become bored with the book as there is not much of a plot.
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gen_g wrote: โ†‘01 Jul 2018, 10:32 I think that for children, it would help to reinforce sentence structure, but I can definitely see how older readers might be put off by it, as there is no sense of "freshness" to the book. It would be great to see how Base takes on the writing style in future books.
I really agree with you about sentence structure. I think this is really meant as a first book for children just learning about letters and words. I could see parents using this as a basis of helping teach children about words and sentences, i.e. have a kid write about what they like using vocabulary relevant to them, e.g. "Mark likes to bake."
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Post by Jude Austin »

I think kids enjoy repetition. The rhythm of it is familiar and comforting (anyone remember the Very Hungry Caterpillar? "On Monday, he ate through one ......, but he was still hungry!" "On Tuesday, he ate through two ......, but he was still hungry!" etc). I used to tell Stanley Holloway stories (Sam Small) at school, and the one the other kids always requested was, "Sam, Sam, Pick Up Thy Musket", just because that phrase was repeated so often :)
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Post by Jennifer Fernandez »

I think children's book should give more credit to children intelligence. An actual plot may provide opportunities for the children to learn complex events. I know I hated repetition when I was a kid.
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Post by Van112 »

I think the main focus of the book is to show the action of the words written on it. So i don't really think a plot is needed. However, older children would find it boring as time goes by. It would be great for the sentence structures on this book to improve.
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Post by AnnaKathleen »

I think it could go either way. Simple sentences and repetition do aid a child in reading but if they are fast learners, older, or easily bored it could have an opposite impact. I have interacted with kids that hated reading simply because they were given too simplistic of books based on age rather than ability. It really boils down to each child.
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