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Coined by Shakespeare: Words and Meanings First Used by the Bard by Jeffrey McQuain, Jeff McQuain
xterminal's review
1.0
Anonymous, Planet Collection: Snakes (Planet Collection, 2012)
Perhaps I'm wrong and this is no longer important, but it seems to me that when one is writing books for kids, one should be paying especial attention to one's spelling and grammar, or at the very least hiring a professional editor to make sure said spelling and grammar is pristine. So I was a bit shocked when I came across this text: “Most species of snakes are nonvenomous. Those snakes that have venoms use it to kill and subdue their prey than for self-defense.” Even if you can't pinpoint everything that's wrong with that passage, doesn't it at least convey a general sense of wrongness? It certainly should; there is more wrong with it than there is right. This is before we get into the impression—and I am willing to admit, again, this may just be me—that this sounds a lot more like a fourth-grader's report on snakes than it does an adult-produced book, in terms of the diction. There is no flow to this at all; it feels like a roster of facts copied from other places with no attempt to streamline them into something readable. (Note that I am not charging any sort of plagiarism here, or any of that nonsense, any more than I would charge a fourth-grader writing a report with plagiarism.) It's terrible—certainly nothing I'd consider reading to the pre-lit set. (zero)
Perhaps I'm wrong and this is no longer important, but it seems to me that when one is writing books for kids, one should be paying especial attention to one's spelling and grammar, or at the very least hiring a professional editor to make sure said spelling and grammar is pristine. So I was a bit shocked when I came across this text: “Most species of snakes are nonvenomous. Those snakes that have venoms use it to kill and subdue their prey than for self-defense.” Even if you can't pinpoint everything that's wrong with that passage, doesn't it at least convey a general sense of wrongness? It certainly should; there is more wrong with it than there is right. This is before we get into the impression—and I am willing to admit, again, this may just be me—that this sounds a lot more like a fourth-grader's report on snakes than it does an adult-produced book, in terms of the diction. There is no flow to this at all; it feels like a roster of facts copied from other places with no attempt to streamline them into something readable. (Note that I am not charging any sort of plagiarism here, or any of that nonsense, any more than I would charge a fourth-grader writing a report with plagiarism.) It's terrible—certainly nothing I'd consider reading to the pre-lit set. (zero)
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