what's the worst kid's book you've ever read? - Page 2

[rzberrymom]

Originally Posted by Thalia the Muse

I love the Very Grouchy Ladybug, out to kick some BUTT! It cracks me up.

Really?? I think I must be missing some intended "girl power" message in that story or something.

[sophiekat]

"the poky little puppy" was my favourite as a child

dd right now loves two dr. suess - like books, "mr. brown can moo, can you?" and "the dr. suess alphabet" and dh and i HATE them. the sounds in mr. brown don't make sense and the alphabet book is just hard to read.
the worst though was my little sister's favourite, "angela's airplane" where this little girl gets lost at an airport and then accidentally flies a plane and crashes it :

[lincap]

"Good Night Fuzzy".. it is about a little boy who wants to sleep in his parents bed.. and they force him to sleep in his own bed..

DH and I were HORRIFIED!! It was so sad... the boy sobbing "But I want to sleep with you!!!!!!!!" as he begs in front of his parents bedroom door..


oh so sad.. so so sad. We never read it to DS.. just hid it somewhere.

[Thalia the Muse]

Really?? I think I must be missing some intended "girl power" message in that story or something.

I don't think you're missing anything -- it's a boy ladybug, isn't it? But his grouchiness and his ambition are so out of proportion with his size ... you know, he's picking fights with elephants, and then dismissing them because they aren't big enough to be worth vanquishing with his teeny tiny ladybug fists.

I guess it helps me understand what it must be like to be a two-year-old. You want to assert yourself SO BADLY and everybody's bigger than you and you have basically no patience or ability to cope with frustration. Oh, and everybody is pushing you to share, and YOU DON'T WANT TO SHARE, damn it.

[elmh23]

I remembered another one: Lucky the Duckling.

"Luck the duckling loves to swim.
All the other ducks follow him.
When the big ducks come out to play,
Lucky the duckling swims the other way."

That is the whole story and I just do not get the message. Plus, Lucky is not swimming, he's in a boat!

[SusanElizabeth]

This isn't a worst -- It's just a personal bad experience. When I was a kid, one of my brothers died at age one, and at some point after that someone gave us a copy of the book "The Littlest Angel". This is a description I just found: "A little boy who has recently become the littlest angel in heaven is unhappy and homesick. He drives the other angels crazy with his piercing whistle and slipping halo. Finally, he is sent to see an 'angel of peace.'" (It goes on)

I will never forget my mother trying to read us this book, and bursting into tears. (I was about 4 at the time.) She got so upset she couldn't finish it. After that, I had an aversion to the book and felt we should hide it.

This is a really interesting question. I'll have to think more about "The Worst."

[mommy2abigail]

Dick and Jane. These are SO STUPID.
See Jane Run.
Run Jane.
See Jane.
Funny Jane.
Funny funny Jane.
Run Jane.
Run. Run. Run.

Seriously. My 2 yo is bored by them.

[KnitLady]

Originally Posted by AnyMama

I don't like that 'love you forever book" it's kinda creepy that the mother crawl's into the window of her grown-up son's house and rocks him when he's asleep.

I hate that creepy book! It was given to us as a gift and donated the next week. Yuck!

[stlmomof2]

I kind of hate _The Runaway Bunny_ due to its repetitive cheesiness. Actually, at this point, I am beginning to dread all of Alex's books. Maybe I won't expose the next baby to books.

[Lynski]

Hands down- Meet Tonka Joe, or one of those Tonka Joe books. It's AWFUL. So bad I had to make up an entire story to go along with it and return it to the library early. Tonka Joe sees his neice and nephew on the street and agrees to a picnic later on. But he goes back to his garage and gets so caught up reliving memories of his gigantic trucks (the Flame Racer, Blizzard Rig, Hazard Handler, Fire Walker, Pulverizer, and Path Cutter, just to give you an idea.) Each page is a story about how "DISASTER STRUCK!" and how he had to use whichever gaz guzzling nightmare machine to save the day. He forgets about the picnic and when his neice and nephew calls he assumes something horrible has happened so he rushes up the mountain in one of his trucks to save the day. I can never decide what message in that book is the most disturbing!

[gloobella]

So I don't really have any books I hate. But I am seriously laughing so hard I am crying reading these. Hubby came in to see if I was ok.
We have a Sparkly duck book that hubby hates because it gives all these wrong facts about ducks.

[ledzepplon]

Wow--I really like a lot of these that are getting mentioned (Richard Scarry, Curious George, and Runaway Bunny, to name a few).

I can't stand those inane counting books . . . "Ten Little Ladybugs" or "One elephant went out to play, upon a spider's web one day . . .". They drive me nuts!

[ledzepplon]

Originally Posted by mommy2abigail

Dick and Jane. These are SO STUPID.
See Jane Run.
Run Jane.
See Jane.
Funny Jane.
Funny funny Jane.
Run Jane.
Run. Run. Run.

Seriously. My 2 yo is bored by them.

These are terrible. It's a shame, because the pictures are so nice. But I think they were more intended to teach kids to read, rather than be story books. Although I'd imagine many kids were completely turned off reading by having to recite those boring things.

[moonmama22]

I am crying from laughing so hard reading these. I've never heard of some of them, i.e. Mabel the Whale??? Sounds scary though. I love The Grouchy Ladybug - except we read it so many times, my son now repeats the line, "You want to fight?" Not so good, but the story makes us laugh. I agree with the Curious George reviews too - I had forgotten the "real" story until I read it for the first time to my son... It's too late, and I'm too tired to think of any of his books that I really hate right now, but I know there are a few that I have stuck up on the top bunk so he cannot pick them at bedtime anymore...

[hellen]

My husband picked up some duds from the library once. I don't remember any of the names but I had to make up words because the story line was so awful. Since it was a library book I was able to hide it until the next trip. The worst book we own is probably a Thomas the Tank Engine book. I just find the stories so long and boring. I've read the Poky Little Puppy (my favorite when I was little) multiple times in one day and these books are worse. Whenever my son brings them I ask him to bring something different. As long as I'm reading to him it has to be a semi enjoyable book. When he can read for himself then he can read the Thomas books.

[Sali]

It's so funny--so many of my all time favorites are on this list--I think I may have to go check out the ones I don't have, since it seems to be my taste!

I LOVE Love you Forever--the visual of that old lady climbing into her son's house lightens the mood when it starts to get sad.
Dick and Jane built such reading confidence for my ds(I think they're not supposed to be read aloud to kids, but read by the kids when they're learning simple words)
And I could recite Dr. Seuss's ABC in my sleep--I have read it a million times.

And David is not the best treated baby on the block, but the simple drawings and his expressions. Tough cookie. I just say Oh David and the little guy cracks up.

I hate the Alphabet Eurps. Those books drive me insane. Bet they're beloved to some Mama out there. OH and Doggies by Sandra Boynton gives me a sore throat---maybe I get too enthusiastic!

[stormborn]

Ugh I've blocked most of it out. I let dd get one at the thrift store without looking closely enough. It looked harmless enough from the cover (bunnys or something) but when I looked through it the storyline was basically "if you reaaalllly love jesus you won't be angry 'cause god hates that": Sure enough I looked at the back as I was tossing it and it was published by the 'beatingkidsforthelord' guy.:

Love you forever tweaks me because it reminds me of my MIL in a bad way. She once showed up at our house (after we'd lived together for a year or so) saying she was there to "pick dh up and take him HOME TO HER HOUSE" .....because he had a cold. Strange.

[katja]

Stormborn, we must have the same MIL!

I loathed The Little Engine That Could. The pictures were the same on every page, and the sentences were long and idiotic and hard to read. Sadly, DD liked it, but I got rid of it anyway. I can't believe it's still in print! I think there should be a special spot in He** for that one and for the Poky Little Puppy.

[feest]

Originally Posted by mommy2abigail

Dick and Jane. These are SO STUPID.
See Jane Run.
Run Jane.
See Jane.
Funny Jane.
Funny funny Jane.
Run Jane.
Run. Run. Run.

Seriously. My 2 yo is bored by them.

*shutter* ehhh my little ones went through a DnJ phayse..i'd hear "mama can you read this to me" turn around and see dick n jane AHHH and we don't even have the normal dick n jane we have all the books in one book (its huge) and they kids hate for me to quit befor a book is done.....i seriously felt like i was making both me and my children stupider by reading them...wonderful pictures tho....see thats how they hook the kids, bright and action filled pictures then they brainwash them with "oh oh oh, Oh dick, Oh jane...Look look, look dick, look jane, see sally, oh look and see sally):

[Rio Mama]

My son cried and cried last weekend when he realized that we'd gotten rid of The Tale of a Very Bad Rabbit by Beatrix Potter. It's the tale of how an innocent little rabbit gets assaulted by a bigger, mean rabbit, but then the bigger, mean rabbit gets shot. Great. Fun story. Not.