Awful, awful children's books - Page 8

[kittyhead]

Originally Posted by burke-a-bee

Don't know if it has been mentioned but what about the Carl books. Mommy has to go out so she leaves the baby with the dog. The baby swimming in the fish tank is the worst.

for reals. we have a rottweiler, and i had to put those books away. my almost two year old kept on trying to climb onto the poor dog's back and ride her, and i could not figure out where he got the idea into his head that it was okay (or even possible) to ride a dog... and then one night he picked that book as his bedtime story and i had a lightbulb moment. lol. stupid book.

[PatienceAndLove]

Originally Posted by bellymama

i think you are reading juuuuuuust a leeeeeetle bit to much into this.
but i hate that book to.i hate it because if you wanted me too, i could recite the whole thing by memory. i hate sandra boynton. she sucks.

Thank you!

"A cow says Moo
A sheep says Baa
Thing singing pigs sing Lalala"

[bellymama]

Originally Posted by burke-a-bee

Don't know if it has been mentioned but what about the Carl books. Mommy has to go out so she leaves the baby with the dog. The baby swimming in the fish tank is the worst.

it's. a. story. it's. for. fun. it's. not. real.

[bellymama]

Originally Posted by PatienceAndLove

Thank you!

"A cow says Moo
A sheep says Baa
Thing singing pigs sing Lalala"

"oh no, you say, that isn't right, the pigs say oink, all day and night." WTF? i wish i had written that and made a bunch of money.
i can make cows say "falalalalalala", where's my money?

[Pandme]

Thank goodness my parents didn't feel the need to censor my books. You honestly think your kids see in it what you do?

But thanks for giving me a nice list of books to include in my already extensive reading to DS. Of course, most are already in there.

The Runaway Bunny "stalkerish?" Yet on this very forum people won't go anywhere without their kids until they are in kindergaten? The irony, it tickles.

[AAK]

This is fun.

I have only read the first four pages of posts so far. There aren't many books that I really really hate. One constant exception are the "character books"--anything made from a tv show. I also don't like many of the ones that were turned INTO a show. For example, Arthur, Berenstein Bears, & Spot. They are so mundane.

I think that the ones that show a person doing stuff that we clearly wouldn't is sometimes funny--and since I think that books can offer people an escape from reality or the opportunity to become someone else--I am ok with that. I love Mrs. Piggle Wiggle. I agree that the parents are "helpless" people but I love the idea of handling a problem creatively! Sure Mrs. Piggle Wiggles cures are sometimes in a bottle or impossible, but she also lives in an upside down house! I think they are great because no matter how hard we try there are times in which our children think we don't understand them at all. Mrs. Piggle Wiggle ALWAYS understands the children. It is a great fantasy that there is someone who always understands while at the same time is able to creatively correct bothersome behavior. After reading a chapter, the girls and I will think of other ways to handle that--both realistic and completely crazy. I also have them guess before hand how Mrs. Piggle Wiggle will fix it.

I always preview what my children read but I don't expect to censor much. I look back on my childhood and what I read and I know I gained from reading the stuff that my mom would have probably prohibitted. Also, I like that you can gain a glimpse into someone else's reality through the magic of a book.

At the same time, while I am choosing the books, I pick the ones I love!

I love the Kevin Henkes books! I love OWEN!!! I like the solution at the end (he couldn't bring his blankie to school with him--mommy took blankie and made several "hankies" that would travel to school with him). Clearly Owen still needed his blankie, this took care of the need in a creative manner that still allowed school to be school! And I thought the nosy neighbor was hilarious--esp. at the end when they showed her with her hankie and how she didn't say a thing.

Amy

[bellymama]

Originally Posted by Pandme

Thank goodness my parents didn't feel the need to censor my books. You honestly think your kids see in it what you do?

But thanks for giving me a nice list of books to include in my already extensive reading to DS. Of course, most are already in there.

The Runaway Bunny "stalkerish?" Yet on this very forum people won't go anywhere without their kids until they are in kindergaten? The irony, it tickles.

: word.

[sunnmama]

Originally Posted by Pandme

The Runaway Bunny "stalkerish?" Yet on this very forum people won't go anywhere without their kids until they are in kindergaten? The irony, it tickles.

[prothyraia]

Originally Posted by SAHDS

What? It's not about competition, it's about imagination. ...It's also not about the big rabbit getting the last word. Actually, she lets the small rabbit get the last word, but she is just thinking out loud about how much she loves her little bunny.

Are we reading the same "Guess How Much I Love You?"? How is it about imagination? Little bunny says one thing, big bunny says the SAME thing, except more. Jumps higher, opens his arms wider, goes farther distances. Big bunny has no imagination at all! And poor little bunny gets wistful each time, because he can't be as big/jump as high, etc. And big bunny does get the last word, he has to sneak in "to the moon...and back!" And they're both male.

Sadly, I have pretty much the whole thing memorized , because my 18 month old seems to like it. Or at least, keeps handing it to me to read.


Now, about the whole censorship thing... are there any parents that don't limit what reading material their toddlers have access to, really? I mean, we can nitpick the details about what is and isn't appropriate, but to come out and say that parents censoring their own wee children's reading/television material is wrong is just silly.

[ananas]

Originally Posted by bellymama

it's. a. story. it's. for. fun. it's. not. real.

Haha, exactly.

Love all the posts about "Your children won't see what you didn't see", too. You didn't notice all of the "bad" things in these books, you grew up loving them...but now you won't let your kids see them because of the "bad" things?

[roostery]

Originally Posted by burke-a-bee

Don't know if it has been mentioned but what about the Carl books. Mommy has to go out so she leaves the baby with the dog. The baby swimming in the fish tank is the worst.

We call those the "crack mama books", because we can't figure out why the parents go off and leave their small child in the care of the dog for long periods of time if they aren't off buying drugs. They go out for dinner! And leave the baby in the mall!

[LynnS6]

Originally Posted by prothyraia

And big bunny does get the last word, he has to sneak in "to the moon...and back!" And they're both male.

But aren't they redeemed by the fact that they obviously co-sleep?

Now, about the whole censorship thing... are there any parents that don't limit what reading material their toddlers have access to, really? I mean, we can nitpick the details about what is and isn't appropriate, but to come out and say that parents censoring their own wee children's reading/television material is wrong is just silly.

Books? No. Now, I'm obviously not taking them to the adult bookstore and picking out porn with them (but then i wouldn't do that for myself either!). We go to the children's section of the library and they can pick out anything they want there. As for what we have at home, I have to say that no one has ever given us a book that I would consider harmful for my kids. Stupid? Yes. Boring? Certainly. In need of being censored? No.

TV is a different issue my book. It's a completely different medium and affects children in ways that books don't. I carefully censor my kids' TV viewing, but I'm up front about that. It's helped by the fact that we have a DVR (Tivo-like device) and so my kids don't channel surf. They can watch something that's been recorded or they can choose something else to do.

[redhotmama]

I won't read Oh, the Places You'll Go by Suess
It just irritates me, so the girls refer to it as "a daddy book"
The Grouchy Ladybug is not nice, I've heard, but I haven't read it myself

[AnnaLaughs]

Man Alive!!!! I have been in book club discussions of some pretty powerful works of literature that didn't delve as deep as this discussion of a ten page board book!!
I read "Guess How Much I Love You" to my kids, it's sweet, it has pretty pictures. I get to finish the book and ask my kids "Guess how much I love you?" That's a pretty well rounded, nice story time, in my opinion.

[spughy]

Originally Posted by balancedmama

Oh my gosh, nothing could be worse than the Beatrix Potter collection my mom just brought to me. It was mine as a child. I was letting DD play with the books until I took a good look at them again. There is some form of violence in every one of them - particularly the ones with farmers and animals.

I actually like Beatrix Potter FOR this reason. It's a far more realistic portrayal of the relationship between animals (yes, foxes eat ducks, and duck eggs, dogs eat duck eggs, cats eat mice, fish eat frogs, kittens play with mice but don't usually eat them (I LOVE Miss Moppet ), etc. Farmers eat rabbits so the rabbits don't eat their vegetables. IT'S LIFE! I don't want DD to all of a sudden discover when she's 8 that animals get eaten by us and other animals. I grew up knowing that, and I've always been pretty comfortable with the natural world and the realities of an omnivorous diet and what you need to do to keep your veggies safe. Thanks, Beatrix! Plus they are beautiful books, aesthetically, and they build interesting vocabulary like nothing else.

Originally Posted by aschmied

Ooh, in this category we got How to be a Baby by Me, your Big Sister. Stunning. "And sometimes when you're REALLY naughty, you get put in prison." [picture of babe crying in a crib] and "You have special plug that goes in your mouth to stop the screams coming out." God, I hate that book. I keep meaning to get rid of it, but at least we've gotten good discussions out of it.

Isn't that just "telling it like it is" though? One would think people who actually DO those things would be more offended.

Originally Posted by dawncayden

It's funny I love a lot of the books that have been listed as being 'hated'. I will avoid anything that has spanking in it. Or lots of shaming.
But if its out of fun, than I don't see the problem. I LOVE Robert Munch, I love being over dramatic when I read them, because they are supposed to be crazy!

I also like dark fables, I can't wait to read Roald Dahl to ds. I like it when fables have a scariness factor and I think kids need the balance of having dark and scary mixed with light and happy.

Yeah I can't wait to read "Danny Champion of the World" to DD!

Originally Posted by zipworth

I can't believe no one has mentioned "The Rainbow Fish"????What is wrong with you people ???

This is what this book says to me:

You can't have anything specail about you. People won't like you. If you want people to like you, take pieces of yourself and give them away. When we are all the same everyone will get along.

I remember thinking it looked like a cute book until I read it to a group of preschoolers, and there was no positive message I could get from it. None.

OMG are you crazy? I love Rainbow Fish. The only thing he's proud of is his shiny scales, he won't even play with the other fish because he thinks he's too good for them, he's mean to the little blue fish - then he discovers that sharing his good fortune and making other fish happy makes him happy, and that playing with the other fish is more fun than swimming around them being admired. This quasi-"evil communist" interpretation is new to me.

Originally Posted by ramama

Just popping into this thread specifically to express my hatred for "The Rainbow Fish"!! Absolutely cannot stand it. I know it's supposed to be about sharing and giving, but really. The other fish won't be friends with the rainbow fish until he gives them a piece of his body? Seriously? Gross.

OK NO the other fish would have loved to be friends with Rainbow Fish but he wouldn't play with them!!!!! You guys are totally not getting Rainbow Fish. boo.

On to my pet peeve - THOMAS!!! I cannot stand how mean the trains are to each other, how all the books are full of revenge and pettiness and bickering and just stupid selfishness. We have one Thomas book and I refuse to read it to DD. It's still in the bookshelf - she is free to ask Daddy to read it to her - but she knows I won't read it and she knows why.

[mija y mijo]

Originally Posted by bellymama

it's. a. story. it's. for. fun. it's. not. real.

Thank you.

[burke-a-bee]

Originally Posted by bellymama

it's. a. story. it's. for. fun. it's. not. real.

I didn't say I said it was evil...
Seeing it's not real I guess I'll have to get a babysitter instead of my shep. mix for Friday night when I go out to the clubs. That sucks because my dog promised to have the kids fed and in bed by 8. My kids will be very upset.

[margaret mayhem]

Originally Posted by mybabysmama

When he's older we won't censor. When we can discuss it and he can ask questions and he can tell me if something is scaring or disturbing him, things will be different.

At 2 he doesn't need to know about hitting.

I've stayed up way past my bedtime reading this thread. So fun to hear some of the same peeves I've had reading to my son. Some books are just annoying (so glad to hear there are others that don't like The Giving Tree) and others convey messages I really don't want my 2 year old to hear. One is a book my mom just gave my son called Nobunny's Perfect. It's all about the things "bad bunnies" do like bite, hit, etc. For one thing, he's not doing those things, so why give him ideas? For another, I can't stand the thought of him getting the message that he's bad if he does do something typical toddler thing like pushing.

[Ceili]

I don't see my careful screening of books as censorship. We have a limited number of resources (space, time, money, etc) and we use those resources on things we love and enjoy.

[spero]

Originally Posted by LynnS6

books are a SAFE place to explore these ideas.

Originally Posted by bellymama

it's. a. story. it's. for. fun. it's. not. real.

Originally Posted by Daffodil

So many people say they liked Babar or Curious George or whatever as kids, but now they're shocked by some of the content and want to keep it from their kids - content that made so little impression on them as kids that they didn't even remember it.

Originally Posted by Pandme

The irony, it tickles.

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