"Kids enjoy laughing and are seldom bored when they find something funny. They also ask questions, often to adults, because they understand that the more words they can comprehend about a funny story or a joke, the more they'll enjoy it"
About this Quote
Cleary is doing something slyly strategic here: he’s not romanticizing childhood so much as reverse-engineering it for adults who teach, parent, or write for kids. The opening lands on an almost disarming obviousness - kids like to laugh - but it’s a setup for his real point: humor is an engine for attention, and attention is the gateway drug to language.
The intent is pragmatic. Cleary, known for making grammar and wordplay feel like candy, is arguing that comprehension isn’t just a classroom metric; it’s part of the pleasure. The subtext flips a common adult assumption on its head. We often treat kids’ questions as interruptions or proof they “didn’t get it.” Cleary frames questions as evidence of sophisticated motivation: children interrogate adults because they’ve learned adults control access to the missing pieces, and missing pieces diminish the joke. That’s not innocence; it’s audience savvy.
Context matters because Cleary writes in the lane where literacy instruction has to compete with screens, short attention spans, and the cultural suspicion that “learning” is tedious. He’s offering humor as a truce: if you want kids to read more, don’t sell them virtue, sell them fun. The line about “more words they can comprehend” quietly reframes vocabulary growth as self-interest, not obedience. It’s an argument for teaching that respects kids as pleasure-seekers with sharp instincts - and for adults to stop underestimating how hard they’ll work to get to the punchline.
The intent is pragmatic. Cleary, known for making grammar and wordplay feel like candy, is arguing that comprehension isn’t just a classroom metric; it’s part of the pleasure. The subtext flips a common adult assumption on its head. We often treat kids’ questions as interruptions or proof they “didn’t get it.” Cleary frames questions as evidence of sophisticated motivation: children interrogate adults because they’ve learned adults control access to the missing pieces, and missing pieces diminish the joke. That’s not innocence; it’s audience savvy.
Context matters because Cleary writes in the lane where literacy instruction has to compete with screens, short attention spans, and the cultural suspicion that “learning” is tedious. He’s offering humor as a truce: if you want kids to read more, don’t sell them virtue, sell them fun. The line about “more words they can comprehend” quietly reframes vocabulary growth as self-interest, not obedience. It’s an argument for teaching that respects kids as pleasure-seekers with sharp instincts - and for adults to stop underestimating how hard they’ll work to get to the punchline.
Quote Details
| Topic | Learning |
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