Quote:
Originally Posted by BeccaPrice
The stories were originally written for my own kids, and we never talked down to them, and if we used an unfamiliar word or concept, we'd explain briefly and go on with the story.
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If kids are reading on their own, that explanation needs to be included in the story. You wouldn't have to remove the vocabulary they aren't likely to be familiar with, but the first time a word is used, find a way to work a definition into the storyline.
Charles and Mary Lamb's
Tales from Shakespeare has examples--
"There was a certain island in the sea, the only
inhabitants of which were an old man, whose name was Prospero, and his daughter Miranda, a very beautiful young lady. She came to this island so young, that she had no memory of having seen any other human face than her father's."
-- The word is not directly defined, but it's clear from context what the meaning is. (A child may not know that the word means "people who live there" rather than just "people" or "humans," but he doesn't need that distinction to enjoy the story.) Some books intended for children use footnotes for words they may not be familiar with; unfortunately, that approach doesn't work well at all for ebooks.