Should a book contain words that are challenging to readers?

[Dr frankenstein]

Personally I learnt alot from having challenging words in books though it should not be to bulky and boring for the reader.

[chrischuks]

yes a book should contain a challenges words to the reader in other to make it more intresting

[BethStavros]

Oh, gosh, I'm torn on this one.

For children? Absolutely. I remember hoarding big words like a dragon when I was a kid. There was something thrilling to it. But then, I spoke with my sister, and she said she so often wanted to escape into books, but found herslef getting torn out of them time and again when she had to get out the dictionary and look up a word. So, I guess the follow-up question is, at what point does the use of challenging words become alienating to the reader?

PS: THANK YOU, KINDLE, FOR THE DICTIONARY FEATURE! It's just may be my favorite thing about that device.

[Dr frankenstein]

True @BethStavros it seems difficult at first getting the dictionary but after a while the more common ones become part of your vocabulary and such a problem is solved.

[Belynda White]

Affirmation. The only way to learn new words is reading in a book and dashing off to your dictionary. So yeah, it should.

[Masoomaabbas]

In my opinion, a book wording should be as clear as crystal so it makes sense to the reader and makes him understand every scenario written by the author in the book. A book does not always need challenging or heavy grammar to have a applaud moment, sometimes simple wording is everything to touch or tear a soul.

[Krystagbelen]

I personally love whenI come across a word I do not know in a book. I had a teacher in grade school who would require a book a week for our reading logs. On our logs, we had to write down any word we didn't know the meaning of. We then had to guess the meaning of the word using context clues from the text. After we had a guess, she would let us look it up in a dictionary. This helped me expand my vocabulary and better understand reading for myself. Now, I am always looking for context clues and searching for other definitions of a word. I benefited greatly from this method and definitely plan on passing that on to my kids.

[Eniekko]

I believe that books containing challenging words teaches children to widen their vocabulary.

I also think that for adults, it is important to present new terms in an exciting or entertaining way so as not to make it boring.

Once, I've read a supposedly romance novel full of medical terms. I felt like I was reading through a textbook instead of a novel.

[Natalie Charlene]

I most definitely think that books should contain difficult and uncommon words! The more, the merrier! (Within reason, of course). Reading new words is a great way to expand vocabulary, both for children and adults. How else are we going to learn; read a dictionary? Sometimes you can understand the meaning by root words or context, and other times you have to look it up, which can be frustrating, but, in my opinion, totally worth it.

I can understand where children could feel intimidated seeing a word they are unfamiliar with. I would hope that they would have an adult they could ask or a reference at hand.

[KasieMiehlke]

I believe a books should contain words that the reader is unfamiliar with, not just children's books. The human brain is constantly seeking knowledge and by seeing a word that is unfamiler, the reader challenges their mind and helps keep the brain active.

[michelonline29]

Sometimes words that are not familiar in books may let readers looking for its meaning. I guess this would also great for readers to learn more different languages.

[Momlovesbooks]

I think challenging words are good for expanding a reader's vocabulary. However, I don't think it should cause confusion or stress by being too far above the reader's level. It's always good to learn new words, whether as an adult or child.

[Zoey]

Yes, I believe a book should contain words that are challenging to a reader. These words help a reader to move on to a more advanced level. The reader should be sure to look up these words each time they are confused. I know studying techniques are different for each of us, but I have found that the more you look up a word and practice using it in context, the more familiar with it you become. All readers enter the book for different reasons, yet all the reasons are the same. Subconsciously we all want to get one thing out of a book: We want to learn. Whether it be life experiences and how to act in any given situation, details of the life of a person we admire, factual evidence for a theory we may have, or any other reason, we all want to learn.

[John Cand]

Yes, challenging words are great for children but they need to be able to decipher the pronunciation of the word from the phonics lessons they get and the meaning from the context.

[kina]

A few challenging words in a children's book is definitely positive. I grew up reading books with larger vocabularies from when I was a child onwards, and it greatly helped my writing and reading level as I grew. As long as someone is there to help the child or they have access to resources that can help them as they read, I don't see a problem with it. As an adult, it depends on the book for me and if the author is using words skillfully or just to make their writing seem more interesting without any effort. I do like when I encounter words outside my vocabulary that are useful though since even as a college grad there's always room for improvement in my own writing and vocabulary.