What would you do about these children's books?

[Yooper]

I saved a stack of favorite books from my childhood. They were a series by Scholastic Reader and Serendipity publishing books. Some of you might remember them..."Wheedle on the Needle", "Little Mouse on the Prairie", "Nitter Pitter"..... My dh says he remembers having the same ones so they must have been popular. Anyway, I dug them out today to give them to dd. of course she wanted me to read them to her right away. I have about 8 of them and read them all and realize now that they are AWFUL books. The worst one is called "Catundra" which is about an overweight cat that all of the forest animals tease. She eats because she is unhappy with herself until a mole befriends her and "whips her into shape" by making her exercise and eat veggies. Then she is happy and stops eating because she is "slim and beautiful". The last page of each of these books has the "moral" of the story. In this case it is (not the exact wording) "if you are fat and people tease you, do what Catundra did and get in shape". The book does not address the wrongness of teasing. Ummmmm..... They are all like this although some are better than others. They all have some "moral" and each has at least one aspect that I grossly disagree with....in most cases the actual "moral". I cannot believe I loved them so much or that my parents bought them for me?!?!?!?

Anyway, so now I have this stack of books that had sentimental value to me. I no longer want them. I might stash the least offensive one in my hope chest just to prove to someone 50 years from now that there was a reason people were so prejudiced and backwards..... But I want to dispose of the others. They are hard cover and have beautiful illustrations so I do not want to put them in the garbage. I also do not want to donate them as I don't think other kids need these messages either. The only idea I have is to paste blank paper over the text and stash them away in case dd ever wants to play "children's author" with the pictures. Any other ideas?

[raleigh_mom]

I don't usually throw away books, but there is a time and a place for just putting them in the trash can. I, too, had some books from when I was little. There's one that I've been reading to the kids, but changing some of the words. After reading your post, I think I should trash it. There are others that have already gone to the dump.

Occasionally I find a good one and am sure to keep it. Others simply go.

[lula]

Ok, so I thought I was the only one with a warped childhood based on the books I had when i was young! I also had a similar collection. This is my current coping mechanism. Some of my books were a little odd because of a weird religious bent. (not to offend anyone here seriously, I am a Christian but these were just um...strange)

I kept the ones I loved even if they were offensive, in a way I found it an educational process. I obviously have them boxed out of the reach of children!

The other ones I cut the pictures out of, made some felt board people etc and dd used the rest for a collage. I then framed the collage and gave it to my mom! (who bought me some of the books!) Note: she also read them and was rather suprised at the content. Babar and Curious George were some odd ones that I had issues with!

I like your children's author idea with pasting over the text! Maybe you could even paste over with the ruled paper?

[arwenevenstar]

Well if the illustrations are beautiful, why don't you make some nice framed piccies for her room with them and throw the words in the trash, alternatively you would be amazed what people want on e-bay and you can buy something better with the proceeds! Just a thought!

[kamilla626]

I was also going to suggest cutting out the best pictures and trashing the rest.

Dd can use them to make her own books, greeting cards, etc.

[L&IsMama]

[QUOTE=lula] Babar and Curious George were some odd ones that I had issues with!QUOTE]


I'm just wondering what it was about curious George? Not trying to be snarky,really. We have some curious George,and really like them,so I'd hate to think there's something I'm just not getting,kwim?

[L&IsMama]

Originally Posted by arwenevenstar

Well if the illustrations are beautiful, why don't you make some nice framed piccies for her room with them !

That's what I would do. Cut out her fav. pics and mat them and frame them.

[SumnerRain]

What a neat idea. I just purchased some replacement copies of "I love you Mouse" and a few other fav's. I would love some framed pictures, how pretty!

[Astoria]

Don't throw away the books. I'm a historian so I have a total bias here. Donate them to the Salvation Army or to a College with a teaching program. People use old books, especially geared to children, for research all the time. They are cultural artifacts -- by studying this kind of stuff we can figure out what the underlying biases were at the time. The Cat book would be fabulous for someone working on body issues and cultural attitudes that led to the subsequent fitness/food/model issues we had/have.

JMHO

Astoria

[Marsupialmom]

I would not throw them away. I would use them as jumping points for conversion. Yes, the fat cat needed to eat healthy but what about the teasers? I would make up stories on the teasers learning there lesson about teasing.

I did a quick research, each book in the series teaches one lesson. Read Nitter Pitter. It is about more to life than looks.
Also there is Leo the Lop about having two different ears and learning to like oneself.

These books sound like a good way to start conversations.

[LindyLou]

Framing the pictures is a great idea!! I too have a pile of old books that I have been wondering what to do with.

[emmasmominar]

I like the idea of framing pics and I also wonder whats wrong with curiouse george and babar?

[midstreammama]

I really like the idea of covering over the words and making your own book. That sounds like fun!

...Also wondering whats wrong with Curious George....

[srain]

Originally Posted by midstreammama

...Also wondering whats wrong with Curious George....

Well, he was kidnapped from the jungle so he could be caged in a zoo-

[USAmma]

I have a few like that. I am saving them to use as educational material later on to teach about social values and the way people used to think. My grandmother gave me some books from her childhood that are precious to me. Unfortunately they are not very multicultural at all, and contain a few stories like Little Black Sambo, and some Mother Goose rhymes that are not PC. I'm going to keep them for both sentimental value and to teach my kids about stereotypes.

[midstreammama]

Originally Posted by srain

Well, he was kidnapped from the jungle so he could be caged in a zoo-

I guess I was thinking more along the lines of something being wrong with the storylines. It just didn't click for me, I get it now!

[Zach'smom]

There is also a lot of smoking going on in the curious George books! At one point even Curious George is smoking a pipe! Also I think the Man With The Yellow Hat should be reported to Child Protective Services. He keeps just leaving George alone, unsupervised to get into trouble!!! Or the times Curious George was in the hospital he just left him there alone! Bad, bad Man With the Yellow Hat!

I still love those books. I usually alter them a bit when reading them to DS though.

[Yooper]

Originally Posted by Marsupialmom

I would not throw them away. I would use them as jumping points for conversion. Yes, the fat cat needed to eat healthy but what about the teasers? I would make up stories on the teasers learning there lesson about teasing.

I did a quick research, each book in the series teaches one lesson. Read Nitter Pitter. It is about more to life than looks.
Also there is Leo the Lop about having two different ears and learning to like oneself.

These books sound like a good way to start conversations.

Oh my gosh!!!!! You are right! I cannot believe I was actually going to censor! These books were technically given to dd by me. To take them now would not be appropriate anyway. She will soon be old enough to read books I wouldn't "approve" of. She might as well learn to be critical of reading materials as part of learning to read. I cannot believe I missed that point.

So now......how do we read these? Do we just read them like any other book and allow her to come to her own conclusions over time? Or do we discuss them after/while reading them?

[rootzdawta]

Personally I'd discuss them while reading them. Even though children are smart enough to draw their own conclusions, I'd want to at least get feedback/her thoughts on what she's reading not only to check for comprehension but to check to make sure she's thinking about what she's reading on many levels and making connections.

I'd recommend Should We Burn Babar? by Herbert Kohl for those interested in an alternative view of what Babar represented. If you don't want to spoil your love for Babar, however, stay away.

[L&IsMama]

[QUOTE=Zach'smom]There is also a lot of smoking going on in the curious George books! At one point even Curious George is smoking a pipe! Also I think the Man With The Yellow Hat should be reported to Child Protective Services. He keeps just leaving George alone, unsupervised to get into trouble!!! Or the times Curious George was in the hospital he just left him there alone! Bad, bad Man With the Yellow Hat! QUOTE]

omg,spew!