Here’s the least surprising news of the week: kids’ books use more rare words than adult TV shows. According to a “Bustle” article by Kristian Wilson, out of every 1,000 words in a children’s book, 30.9 will be rare, compared with 22.7 in adult prime-time TV shows. So what are “rare” words? Well, according to the Rare Words Boutique, they’re those beyond the 10,000 most common words used in daily conversation; ones that are not commonly used in spoken language but often appear in print, and those that children are not likely to know at a particular age – until they read a good book, that is!

So why are rare words so important? The Boutique has the answers:

• Exposure to rare words expands a child’s vocabulary.
• The more words a child knows, the easier it is to read.
• A child’s vocabulary upon entering school is the most important indicator of success in school.
• Rare words make up more of what one must know in order to understand ideas in print.

May this inspire the poets among you to pen a paeon to the polysyllable!