Tolkien, Read Books Above You

I recently came across a great comment from one of J. R. R. Tolkien’s letters (written in April 1959). Tolkien is advocating reading books with more difficult books to children rather than confining the reading to easier books. Tolkien states:

“A good vocabulary is not acquired by reading books written according to some notion of the vocabulary of one’s age-group. It comes from reading books above one.” (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, cited in Roverandom, xvi).

Great point!