Hypertext, Children's Lit, & Writing Instruction

As I was reading Hammerberg's article, I found myself distracted by one of her main points: the comparison of sophisticated, postmodern children's literature and the writing instruction that young children, beginning readers, receive. I'm not sure that's a fair thing to do. The so-called postmodern children's books are one kind of book, and important ones at that. However, to suggest that because this type of writing exists and is popular that kids should be initially taught to write in that style doesn't really make sense to me.

There is a line of thinking that for art or writing that "breaks the rules" to be significant, the creator needs to know the rules he or she is breaking; otherwise, what statement are they making? By the same token, young children should initially be taught writing in a traditional format--they need some standard/default style with which to later compare and create other forms. When someone has never written before, I don't know if it helps them to begin at the cutting edge.

I do strongly agree that children should be read and read themselves all forms of literature. The form of the books should be discussed, especially in relation to the writing that the kids themselves are doing. Then after kids have some experience under their belt, I can see them producing postmodern hypertexts of their own. I guess to me, a more fair comparison would be these books and the writing instruction that older kids (maybe third grade and up, but definitely preteens and teenagers) are getting.