Awful, awful children's books - Page 16

[umami_mommy]

Originally Posted by mojomom

I do not like Curious George. He NEVER listens, but always manages to get out of it. Not a good message IMO.I actually have one of dh's old Curious george books. The story is about george going to a hospital. He gets into a bottle of Ether and they illustrate him getting high. Needless to say it is safely tucked away in our trunk.

OOOO!! i had that book when i was kid!!

actually i think the man with the yellow had is the one who is silly. he does stuff like takes george to an amusment park and then says "be good" and walks away.

WTH is that? right, be good. in the middle of chaos. how silly.

of course george never listens he's a monkey!!!!

for the record DS LOVED "no david" and "don't let the pigeon ride the bus." eh loved experimenting with saying NO when he was toddler. it gave him quite the thrill and had so much fun doing it. and when he got older we used it as a springboard for discussions.

the books i hated and threw away were by syd hoff. okay, so these books are 40 years old... but both of the ones we had, had NO female characters... every single character in the book is male. very very annoying to me. i wouldn't even give them away. (and you can still buy all his books on amazon) the other book i hated was "i'll love you forever." the mother sneaking into her adult son's house was pretty creepy. stalking 101 if you ask me!

PS, i hate the barenstain bears too. i hate fingershaking moralizing in children's books, it makes me queasy!!

[umami_mommy]

Originally Posted by 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!!

LOL!! do you think it's because we read so many books a million times??

[gardenmommy]

The other thing I meant to say about Nancy Drew and forgot (imagine that, a mom forgetting something,lol!), was that I was such a tomboy, I totally blew off all the girly-girly stuff. I didn't get anything from that. Yes, reading it now, I can see the stuff about girls that is stereotypical, sexist, and whatnot. I saw a lot of it as a teen, but I didn't buy into it, because I knew that wasn't "me". I was too much into horses and "boy stuff" (I had 3 brothers) to be swayed by that kind of thinking. My parents are such grounded people that I just took it for granted that "real" people aren't like that; it is just a book thing.

I don't think it's bad for kids to see that sort of thing. It's all around us in the world anyway, they are going to run into it at some point. The question is, when and how do you, the parent, want to introduce them to it. There are lots of things I don't want my children to be exposed to yet, or want the exposure to be a controlled one (maybe through books!). I don't think it's censorship to delay that introduction until a child is more mature. I think that is called responsible parenting. I do think it's important to use what a child sees, hears, and reads as springboards for discussions into your values, morals, and worldview (at an age appropriate level, of course).

[woaters]

Wow!
What a topic! DS isn't much for books. He will listen very carefully if they are FUNNY or about cars. So, we like If you give a pig a pancake etc by Laura Joffe Numeroff. But the latest books he likes are the Froggy seriesby Jonathan London and Frank Remkiewicz . I find Froggy rude...but they make DS laugh.....
As for I Love you Forever, I would find it far less creepy without the illustrations.....they are so dated.

[clothdipemomof2boy]

: I have written all the books that are considered awful down so that i can go througth my books for the kids. I have alot of dr seuss books and the only one we like is the fox in socks book but i skip any bad parts in it jacob likes tha tmommy messes up the tongue twisters. but yeah going through there books. thanks for the heads up on these books.

[monkeys4mama]

Originally Posted by muttmom92

One book I HATE is Guess How Much I Love You. The poor little bunny keeps trying to tell the big rabbit how much he loves him/her, but the big rabbit keeps one-upping the little one. It becomes a big competition and and the big rabbit has to get the last word.

Hmmmm... I just thought they were having fun. Not a competition or a put-down, but a sweet game. I never thought the intention of it was to win a competition with the child, but to reassure children that their parents love them infinitely.

We got the book from Grandma a long time ago and it's been a favorite ever since. My kids and I play the guess how much I love you "game" all the time. We invent all sorts of silly "how much I love you's" and have many giggles and smiles over it. The kids come up with some pretty interesting descriptions of how much they love us (up and down trees, to the bottom of the ocean, to Mars and back, to infinity and beyond, all the way to Heaven, etc).

[monkeys4mama]

Originally Posted by mllrym

Have you heard of the new book out "My beautiful Mommy". It is about a mom going in for a nose job and tummy tuck.

Description:
A perky mother explaining to her child why she's having cosmetic surgery (a nose job and tummy tuck). Naturally, it has a happy ending: mommy winds up "even more" beautiful than before, and her daughter is thrilled.


What in the world???!!!!!!!!!!!!

OMG! I can't believe they publish books like that. Yeesh.

[monkeys4mama]

Originally Posted by bellacymom

Walter the Farting Dog
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Wal...9780525472179/

Ugh. I really loathe this book. My in-laws bought it for the kids. And then they followed up by buying the other two books about Walter.

We had raised the kids with a pretty natural attitude about body functions. Yes, people fart. Yes, everyone poops. Yes, you blow your nose and snot comes out. Whatever. It was just common, everyday stuff. Nothing to be ashamed of. Nothing to make a big deal about.

Then, in comes Walter and suddenly farting has become this HUGE big deal for the kids to talk about and make a lot of noise about and go "Eeew!" and announce to the world and so on. Where they once treated it as ordinary, after "Walter" it became a huge source of amusement and also of conflict (as in "who farted???" "Gross!" "It's Walter!!!" etc)

The weird thing was that when the in-laws first visited and gave them the book, the kids didn't react all that much. But they kept insisting on reading it to them while they were here and suddenly it was escalated to some level of notoriety that the kids wanted to read it.

After a couple weeks, the kids lost interest in it and it died down until the next time the in-laws visited and brought (you guessed it) the sequel.

[kapatasana]

Originally Posted by monkeys4mama

OMG! I can't believe they publish books like that. Yeesh.

There was an article about it in our local paper a couple of weeks ago. It was written by a plastic surgeon who said he wanted to address the fact that kids might be confused about why there parent is having surgery without being sick or injured and/or why they might look different than they used to. I can totally understand that, and see that a book like this might be beneficial to a child who's parent is having cosmetic surgery, but from what I've seen, the way this particular book is written and the way the situation is presented is kind of frightening. At least *some* of the proceeds go to charity.

[spero]

Originally Posted by kapatasana

There was an article about it in our local paper a couple of weeks ago. It was written by a plastic surgeon who said he wanted to address the fact that kids might be confused about why there parent is having surgery without being sick or injured and/or why they might look different than they used to. I can totally understand that, and see that a book like this might be beneficial to a child who's parent is having cosmetic surgery, but from what I've seen, the way this particular book is written and the way the situation is presented is kind of frightening. At least *some* of the proceeds go to charity.

Not to mention, that the plastic surgeon in the book gets to be portrayed as a super hero (muscles and all).

The whole package annoys me, but I REALLY don't like the basic underlying message of the book ... that "ugly" mommy will go have surgery and return "beautiful". : It's just so damn superficial ... what the hell is this teaching our kids? Elective cosmetic procedures amongst teens are already exploding.

[Aubergine68]

I really disliked Madonna's The English Roses. Was a gift from an auntie. We donated it as soon as we reasonably could. When dd stopped reading it.

I don't get rid of books that I find a waste of time, but I've also given up reading them, too. I will no longer read Scooby Doo books to my son. He can look at the pictures, get dad or his big sister to read to him, learn to read himself...but I won't read anything aloud that bores me so much that it makes me want to avoid reading with my kids.

I will read something that I enjoy, like, oh, Harold and the Purple Crayon, or Boynton's Counting and Barking Book, an infinite number of times, though.

[jadekat]

Originally Posted by TeresaZofia

I agree about the OG Curious George--it's a really bad book. But we enjoy the Curious George anthology with stories like Curious George goes to the library or Curious George goes camping, they are pretty boring but innocuous enough--and dd loves them.

The worst book I've gotten recently is "I'm a Big Sister." I don't remember the author. My mom just got it for DD because, well, she's going to be a big sister.

In the book, the new big sister sees her parents taking care of the new baby and asks "Did I drink out of a bottle when I was a baby?" or "Did I sleep in a crib when I was a baby?"

The AP mom in me cringed when I read it. I had to explain to DD that, no, she never drank out of a bottle when she was a baby and she never slept in a crib either, and for that matter, she doesn't sleep in a "big girl bed" now because she sleeps in the big bed with everyone else. I had to put the book away

I thought about buying that book for DD before DS was born. Good thing I read it before I bought it. I also cringed about the bottle and crib part. I'm so glad that no one tried to buy it for DD.

[sarafi]

Originally Posted by Hannahsmummy

Wow, I haven't read that one but we love Bread and Jam for Frances. I'm glad to have read about the spanking here as I had this book on my list for my daughter's birthday.

.

We also love "A Birthday for Frances" and "A Baby Sister for Frances"

I agree that the Bedtime one is creepy--it doesn't really fit with the rest of their parenting IMO. We got it from the library and were a little surprised.

[Kodachrome]

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.

Bwahahaha... I so agree with you.

Berenstain Bear, Cat in the Hat, and Maurice Sendak books were my absolute favorites growing up. Books I eagerly passed on to my own kids - who seem to be of sound mind from reading them over and over and over again.

This is a funny thread.

[mandib50]

i hate reading the walt disney books .... soooo sooo boring. ugh. berenstein bears i really dislike too. my kids get some weird books from my in-laws, many of them religious that i just donate to the library or thrift shop.

after 4 kids and 15 years of reading books you get pretty darn picky

[mrsbernstein]

Ok, I'm going out on a limb here....we LOVE the Berenstain Bear books. LOVE THEM!

Growing up, we had them all! And the deal is that whoever has the first grandchild, gets the collection FIRST.

I was raised by a SAHM and plan to BE a SAHM, so I really enjoy books that portray the woman as a SAHM and the dad as teh bread-winner.

Mrs Bernstein

[the_lissa]

In the books I have seen, she works or owns a fabric store.

[kapatasana]

Originally Posted by mrsbernstein

Ok, I'm going out on a limb here....we LOVE the Berenstain Bear books. LOVE THEM!

Growing up, we had them all! And the deal is that whoever has the first grandchild, gets the collection FIRST.

I was raised by a SAHM and plan to BE a SAHM, so I really enjoy books that portray the woman as a SAHM and the dad as teh bread-winner.

Mrs Bernstein

I was raised in a home where my mom was the primary bread winner (Dad worked, but Mom had a higher paying job with benefits) and I don't think that I'm the type to be a SAHM (or that my husband is the primary bread-winner type, we're kind of co-partners in everything we do, even work in the same field), so my reasoning is different, but I actually like the Bernstein bears too
: They were some of my favorites when I was kid, so that's probably why. I actually related to them (as a kid) because Papa Bear interacted with the kids a lot (which my Dad did). I haven't read these in years, and I'm sure I'd find a million things to be offended about/annoyed with now, but my memories of them are pleasant.

[Needle in the Hay]

Ok we have tons of children's books and even if I don't agree with everything in them, I don't have a problem with them. I think my DS would lose out if I were really picky about which books I'll read to him. I'd never hide a book he enjoys just because I thought it was annoying or boring. I figure if he likes it he's getting something from it. BUT...

does anyone else have a problem with They Were Strong and Good? I bought it awhile ago, and haven't read it to DS (it sits on our shelves but he's never asked me to read it--I'm not sure if he's really ever noticed it). I've seen it recommended in a homeschooling book (one that has a lot of great recommendations) and it's a five in a row book and caldecott winner. I've never seen anyone say anything bad about this book but it seems pretty troubling to me. I still plan to read it to DS at some point but it would be helpful to know how to discuss it with him. If anyone knows of any discussions (I didn't find anything when I googled) about this book I'd be grateful for a link. Thanks.

[kapatasana]

Originally Posted by Needle in the Hay

Ok we have tons of children's books and even if I don't agree with everything in them, I don't have a problem with them. I think my DS would lose out if I were really picky about which books I'll read to him. I'd never hide a book he enjoys just because I thought it was annoying or boring. I figure if he likes it he's getting something from it. BUT...

does anyone else have a problem with They Were Strong and Good? I bought it awhile ago, and haven't read it to DS (it sits on our shelves but he's never asked me to read it--I'm not sure if he's really ever noticed it). I've seen it recommended in a homeschooling book (one that has a lot of great recommendations) and it's a five in a row book and caldecott winner. I've never seen anyone say anything bad about this book but it seems pretty troubling to me. I still plan to read it to DS at some point but it would be helpful to know how to discuss it with him. If anyone knows of any discussions (I didn't find anything when I googled) about this book I'd be grateful for a link. Thanks.

I've never heard of it. What is it about?