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[ID: Photos of an oxidized copper plate, an oxidized copper pipe, and oxidized pennies. End ID]

Next up someone is going to claim that the Narnia series isn't kids books.

We need to stop thinking "children's book" = "picture book". That's not true.

A Series of Unfortunate Events is a children's book series.

Narnia is a children's book series.

The Hobbit is a children's book.

Watership Down is a children's book.

The Jungle Book is a children's book.

A Secret Garden is a children's book.

A Little Princess is a children's book.

Animorphs is a children's book series.

Hatchet is a children's book.

Bud, Not Buddy is a children's book.

The Day No Pigs Would Die is a children's book.

Charlotte's Web is a children's book.

Ramona Quimby, Age 8 is a children's book.

Alice in Wonderland is a children's book.

Out Of The Dust is a children's book.

Many of these books have won children's book awards for being such good children's books. None of them are picture books though. I have read all of these as a child. And a lot of these books contain death, because that is not inappropriate for children, it's part of life and children need to learn about it. These books contain stuff like abuse, racism, hunting, battle, survival, suffering, and other things I've heard some people say children should not be "exposed to". Reading about them in these books did not do me harm, in fact it did a lot of good because it taught me about those things and that they can be survived and are extant and there are words for them. Which is part of what books are supposed to do!

Any book written for children, pictures or no, is a children's book. Large thin picture books that rhyme are not the only thing that counts as a children's book. Those are picture books. The ones specifically designed for reading practise are traditionally called readers. Cat in the Hat is a reader, a picture book, AND a children's book. The Talking Eggs is a picture book and a children's book. There used to be readers that did not have pictures!

You need to read stuff that has death and upsetting things in it in order to understand those things exist and how people might cope with them. You cannot just go around saying that children should only read Dick and Jane. Have you MET a child, do you REMEMBER being a child??? Being a kid is often horrifying.

We do not tell stories about monsters to tell kids there's monsters in the world--they know that, they experience that every day. We tell them stories about monsters to show them kids like them and unlike them experience the monsters and survive, sometimes even defeat them.

-> Phonics For Adults <-

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A very tiny percentage of creators go on to be famous, but that doesn’t mean that people don’t remember little things you did for years and years. Who came up with most of the world’s most famous jump rope rhymes? Who coined some of the famous idioms we use in daily speech? Who made up ‘Jingle Bells, Batman Smells?” Somehow, all of these things stuck and spread around.

When I was a small child, I saw a high school put on a production of the musical HONK. In one song, the mother duck describes various dangers that her baby should avoid in the water, including fishing line, which could strangle him. A member of the ensemble played the role of fishing line, doing a maniacal laugh and over-the-top strangling motions, and I found it hilarious– and to this day, that’s an example I often think of when talking about how ensemble members can still stand out in theatre. The guy who played the role might not even remember that he did that, but I do.

I took Suzuki violin lessons as a kid. The teacher made up lyrics to some of the songs, and she let her students make some up, too. Now whenever I hear the instrumental of one of those pieces, I always remember these ridiculous lyrics about a skunk that we sang in violin class. I don’t even know which student invented them!

In middle school, I found a video about atoms parodying Bill Nye made by some kids for a school product. It probably had less than 1,000 views, but I think of quotes from that video all the time. They had a parody of “We Will Rock You” with the chorus, “Protons, neutrons, electrons” that I think about a lot.