The big deal with Diary of a Wimpy Kid, in my view (I teach middle school kids who speak English as a second language - every single one of them is a 7th grader who reads at a 2-3rd grade level), is that they're easy enough, interesting enough, and relatable enough to kids who can't read very well. The books you mentioned, Lewis, L'Engle, Wilder, et al - my kids wouldn't even pick those up, let alone read more than a page. The language is archaic, the contexts unfamiliar, and the plots too complex and long (just using these as examples since you mentioned them as examples of what you liked). Kids need to be successful at reading in order to stay with it, practice and become better readers. Wimpy Kid, while perhaps not being quality literature, has a good combination of text that's larger and spread out, pictures to help with comprehension, and humor that kids can relate to.
I can understand the desire to put better literature in kids' hands, but forcing them to read something leaves you with a kid who hates to read and who won't be as good as they could be if they still found reading to be a fun activity. Just my two cents.
I'm not saying and have never said that kids shouldn't read these books; I tend to think that (almost) anything kids want to read is good at least on some level, because it will hopefully get them in habit of reading and enjoying reading. But I do not understand the appeal of these particular books, and while it doesn't, like, disgust me that kids are reading them (certainly not to the degree that I shudder when I see young girls glomping on to the Twilight books), I do hope those same kids will then read something with rather more substance to it. I'm fine with these books being a stepping stone if they really do work that way, but I still don't think they're very good; further, I think there are far better things out there. Contemporary stuff, too, not just my favorites from when I was a kid: the last two Newbery winners, When You Reach Me and The Graveyard Book; Brian Selznick, Gennifer Choldenko, Adam Rex, Mark Haddon, Suzanne Collins, Kazu Kibuishi...I could go on.
I can understand the desire to put better literature in kids' hands, but forcing them to read something leaves you with a kid who hates to read and who won't be as good as they could be if they still found reading to be a fun activity. Just my two cents.
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