Dialogue in children's books

If you have a working acquaintance with children's books--and I mean all the way from picture books to YA novels--could you post or point me to some samples of dialogue? I'm interested in what you think is good, well-handled speech in children's literature. Please also mention the age or approximate age of the speaker (or tell us if the speaker isn't human).

I understand that it's not meant to be a transcription of actual children's speech, but it does--doesn't it?--have to convey a sense of authenticity while modeling appropriate uses of language and still being meaningful and relatable to the intended audience.

If you have thoughts on this or related subjects, they're welcome in this thread.

What age children are you particularly concerned with? The ages of language formation? Because I would say that any author who has a child older than perhaps five speaking "cutsie child" talk is not aware of the real world. Perhaps an occasional misuse of words will happen after that, but lisps and such shouldn't IMO.

I'll have to do some digging on this because nothing specific is coming to mind at the moment, but I know what you mean, like wine, I know whether I like it or not when I encounter it.

I'd just like to look at some good examples, preferably suggested by someone who's already familiar with them, rather than my just randomly picking up books in the children's section of the library or a bookstore.

I want to see how the dialogue is handled by the author when it's handled well for a young audience. I'm thinking that if it's right for the young reader it will also sound right to the adult ear.

From picture books to YA novels is, I suppose, essentially preschool through high school. Mainly in the K-3 range, though.

I also don't know any specific examples off the top of my head, but it certainly sounds right to an adult as well. It's just that children speak in shorter more simplistic sentences as they don't have the wide range of vocabulary or grammar as an adult. It's normal speech, just kind of pared down to the basics, getting more complex the older the child is.

It is I think not unusual for children's books to contain children using quite complex language, Children typically understand more complex language than they use. As do we all.and given that children like to read about children slightly older than themselves. they have no problem accepting more complex language than they speak. having said that there are plenty of books with simplistic dialogue. you will find though that this tends to match the narrative text. It is more important I think that the narrative and the dialog have a rough equivalency than how advanced they are.

>5 SimonW11: The question was about dialog, and when it's in early things like picture books and early reader stuff, no, there should not be complex dialog going on. As I said, as things age up the complexity goes up with it.

sorry was not familiar with the term K-3 a google suggests it is age 5. hmmm I stand by what I said. the dialog should approximate the the narrative , in terms of complexity.FWIW I suuggested authors like Michael Bond Joan Aiken, John Gordon, Jonathan Stroud. Alan Garner. but as I said children's habit of reading about children older than themselves (because Bigger kids are cooler) means they are not good judges of how age appropriate the dialogue is.If they knew how an eight year old spoke they would be speaking like an eight year old. As long as the dialogue does not sound obviously less mature than them they are happy.

I agree with @SimonW11. I still remember when I was first learning to read. We had Dick and Jane readers and I hated their insipid dialogue. I don't think even two-year olds speak that way.

Sorry, K-3 is kindergarten through third grade.

Comments on related subjects are interesting and welcome. As for my question, though, I'm not looking to find out how children speak or how to write it or what children approve of. I want to see in print some examples of a good rendition of children's speech as judged by you, the adult reader. By "good" here I mean both readable--not ludicrous or cringeworthy--and realistic enough to meet a standard of realism appropriate to the book.

It's also worth noting that children vary widely in their speech capabilities, as do adults, so there isn't going to be any one model that matches speech patterns of children of a certain age. I'm expecting that we're more likely to see age-related differences in intellectual and emotional maturity and simple understanding of the world than we are in verbal constructions and vocabulary.

But again, I'm not trying to learn about kids' speech. I'm trying to see what "well done" looks like in a children's book.

Rudyard Kipling's The Elephant' Child was really fun to read out loud. (The one illustrated by Lorinda Bryan Cauley.)

My sons loved Bill Peet's books--Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent, Fly Homer Fly, Jethro and Joel Were a Troll, etc.--in all forms. e.g., bedtime story, cassette books, reading to themselves, older boy reading to younger.

I was struck by how much "wordier" British books were compared to N American, e.g., Graham Oakley's church mice books. Wonder if British kids end up more literate on average than N Americans?

JS Hutton et al. 2015. Home Reading Environment and Brain Activation in Preschool Children Listening to Stories. Pediatrics Published online August 10, 2015 (doi: 10.1542/peds.2015-0359)
CONCLUSIONS: In preschool children listening to stories, greater home reading exposure is positively associated with activation of brain areas supporting mental imagery and narrative comprehension, controlling for household income. These neural biomarkers may help inform eco-bio-developmental models of emergent literacy.

>10 margd: Not only The Elephant's Child, but all of the Just So Stories show the Best Beloved talking like a child trying to sound grown-up. I suspect that Kipling observed his offspring minutely while writing his children's books.