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...as in, terrible books written for kids, not books written by terrible kids.
There are some awful ones out there. I would have put a bullet through my head if I had had to learn to read with the Dick and Jane books.... What are some titles to stay away from and why?
There are some awful ones out there. I would have put a bullet through my head if I had had to learn to read with the Dick and Jane books.... What are some titles to stay away from and why?
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Re: Terrible Kids' books
Mon, March 29, 2004 - 5:18 PM"Guess How Much I Love You" by Sam McBratney.
Summary: Big Nutbrown Hare continually tries to show-up Little Nutbrown Hare in expressing love, and in so doing shows that Big Nutbrown Hare is too insecure to let a child win. -
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Re: Terrible Kids' books
Fri, December 5, 2008 - 12:46 AMUntil the end. I love "GHMILY" It was a fave of my daughter and now my son loves it also.
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Unsu...
Re: Terrible Kids' books
Wed, March 31, 2004 - 5:27 PMI'd put The Giving Tree in the terrible catagory. But I know plenty of folks adore that book. No one is neutral, ya love it or ya hate it. -
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Re: Terrible Kids' books
Wed, March 31, 2004 - 8:06 PMOK...why do you hate it? I love it, but I have problems with it as well....I think I might have mentioned that in a different thread.
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Unsu...
Re: Terrible Kids' books
Thu, April 1, 2004 - 11:37 AMI think I went on about this in another tribe some months back.
I suppose you can read the book as a glass half full or empty, but to me it was always a glass of vinegar. It reads like a case study of (to use a phrase that has fallen out of favor lately) a codependant relationship. Not to mention the environmental aspect. The giving is all one-sided, man exploiting nature. It made me shudder.
I worked in a kids book store about 20 years ago for a few years. I had never heard of the book. My manager showed it to me. She wanted to know if I'd like it. I told her it gave me the creeps and she agreed. But she warned me that many people abosolutely adored the book. Useful to know when you are a bookseller. -
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Unsu...
Re: Terrible Kids' books
Sat, April 3, 2004 - 8:53 AMAnything by Richard Scarry, or Shel Silverstein. Almost anything by Dr. Suess (Pick your favorite and throw the rest away since they are all the same.)
Christian Propaganda like the Magic Bicycle series, Narnia, etc.
The Child Porno Killers. Okay, I like adult themes in childrens books, but this one was way to graphic for me, let alone children. -
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Re: Terrible Kids' books
Sat, April 3, 2004 - 9:26 AMTotally disagree with you almost all counts - especially Dr. Suess. Someone told me once not to let my kid read them, they were nonsense. But I did, and I thing my daughter has a better imagination and curiosity for it. She is also more tolerant to new ideas, and I think this is partly due to having been exposed to these books.
But hey, that's just me. -
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Unsu...
Re: Death of a free nation
Sat, April 3, 2004 - 5:58 PMYeah- each to his/her own.
Hell would be being stuck on a desert island with only those books to read to your kid. -
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Re: Death of a free nation
Sat, April 3, 2004 - 6:02 PMone man's hell...
from there to here,
from here to there,
silly boys are everywhere. -
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Unsu...
Re: Death of a free nation
Sat, April 3, 2004 - 7:06 PMI am so not interested in religious propaganda, but I still have a soft spot for the Narnia books.
(Uh, just had a horrible image, Mel Gibson directing "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe", three hours of the stone table scene!!! Now that would be hell!)
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Re: Death of a free nation
Sat, April 3, 2004 - 7:10 PMMay that never happen.
I am very unChristian, and yet I too loved the Chronicles. When I read them I had no idea they were Christian at all.
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Re: Death of a free nation
Sat, April 3, 2004 - 7:10 PMOh, man, just when I'd gotten the imagery from this week's South Park out of my head! -
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This is the maximum depth. Additional responses will not be threaded.Unsu...
Re: Death of a free nation
Sat, April 3, 2004 - 8:28 PMNarnia-read them all. Yeah they're great, but the last battle, and the lion witch and the wardrobe are a little over the top.
and what was that hekate, peter pan? -
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Re: Death of a free nation
Sat, April 3, 2004 - 8:30 PMI would not like you in a boat,
I would not like you with a goat - no wait.
I might like to see you with a goat. -
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Unsu...
Re: Death of a free nation
Sat, April 3, 2004 - 10:11 PMI would not like a goat here, I would not like a goat there, I would not like a goat anywhere. I do not like a goat and Pam, I do not like them SAM I AM. -
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butter side down, please
Sat, April 3, 2004 - 10:17 PMPam?
I think you miss the common sense values that these books teach children. such as:
And today the great Yertle, that Marvelous he,
Is King of the Mud. That is all he can see.
And the turtles, of course... all the turtles are free
As turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be.
Topical. -
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Unsu...
SEUSS
Sun, April 4, 2004 - 9:49 AMI've heard a lot of people dump on the Dr. Seuss books. I like 'em. I loved them as a kid and I like to read them aloud with their lovely lippetty-lippetty cadence.And I have to credit Seuss with my first exposure to existentailism.
f i wasn't me i might indeed be a doorknob or a sack of potatoes, a close call indeed. Talk about a close call.
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Re: Death of a free nation
Wed, July 14, 2004 - 3:59 PMthere's a book called "I'll love you for always." i think it's supposed to encourage codependency or something. dreadful book. "The giving tree" made me sad when i was a kid; there's really no positive resolution to it. and i hate those veggie-tales and other crappy christian books! -
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Re: Death of a free nation
Fri, July 16, 2004 - 1:24 PM"there's a book called "I'll love you for always." i think it's supposed to encourage codependency or something. dreadful book."
If you're talking about Munsch's _I'll Love You Forever_, I don't get that from it at all. Heck, it even shows the kid growing up and moving out in a positive light.
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Unsu...
Re: Death of a free nation
Mon, May 17, 2004 - 6:38 PMI always thought Dr. Seuss was loaded with meaning. E.g. the Butter Side Up, Butter Side Down I always thought was an allegory for the cold war. The Lorax was banned in Oregon Schools because of it's environmental anti-logging message. And The Sneeches (I don't remeber then name of that one) was about childhood elitism.
There were more. Sure, some of them were nonsense, but not all. -
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Re: Death of a free nation
Mon, May 17, 2004 - 6:43 PMThe starbellied sneetches had stars upon thars...
elitism didn't stop in childhood.
And yeah, I got all the Dr. Suess books memorized.
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Re: Death of a free nation
Fri, May 28, 2004 - 10:03 PMI have to say I love the Suess. It does foster imagination and provides a foil for social conciousness discussions. As a reading teacher, the word play really helps with phonemic awareness and decoding skills. Plus, the kids love the silliness!
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Re: Terrible Kids' books
Mon, April 5, 2004 - 3:16 PMDavid, you're killing me. You took out half my favorite children's books in one fell swoop. I had One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish memorized as a child. -
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Re: Terrible Kids' books
Mon, April 5, 2004 - 3:22 PMI still do.
and i'm 30.
Of course, I have a kid who knows them all too. -
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Re: Terrible Kids' books
Tue, April 6, 2004 - 11:55 AMSame here...
I guess the great thing, is that there are SO MANY books out there... if you or your kids don't groove with something, no matter how great other people think it is, you can always find something else, assuming your child hasn't been turned off of books altogether.
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Re: Terrible Kids' books
Tue, April 6, 2004 - 12:35 PMMy daughter lives for books. If I were to tell her she could not read - even for a day - she would go into a panic.
She already goes into a panic if finishes a book and doesn't have another one picked out yet.
"Mom, what am I going to READ!?!?!"
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Re: Terrible Kids' books
Sat, May 29, 2004 - 7:32 AMI hate the velvateen rabbit.
Kids love their stuffed animals. A story about burning them all, regardless of the "magic" of them becoming real is horrible. -
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Unsu...
Re: Terrible Kids' books
Sat, May 29, 2004 - 8:13 AMI yea, I remember that story being somewhat disconcerting - but I can't remember what it was about. I remember something about a clepto rabbit being punished. -
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Re: Terrible Kids' books
Thu, July 1, 2004 - 6:53 AM**I just joined this tribe...hey!**
RAINBOW FISH irks me because who is this little blue fish and why does he have any right to have one of the most precious possessions of Rainbow FIsh? I understand the message (materialism and vanity sucks) but it also says that if you give people things they will be your friends. I think that little blue fish is a twerp!!
Lisa
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Re: Terrible Kids' books
Thu, July 1, 2004 - 9:15 PMRunaway Bunny. I got this book in a gift set that had it and Goodnight, Moon. Goodnight, Moon is pretty good, but RB is freakish! No wonder the bunny is trying to run away--his/her mother is crazy. I guess the mommy rabbit reminded me of my own mother... -
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Re: Terrible Kids' books
Thu, July 1, 2004 - 10:07 PMI agree! I have long heard that RUNAWAY BUNNY is one of the must-have classic blah-blah-blah books of all blah-blah-blah. Bologna! What a codependent, possessive, obsessive psychotic story! The essential message: If you go ANYWHERE, I will track you down and find you. You can run but you can't hide. And besides, I am bigger, better, and faster than you AND I'm omnipotent." That's JUST what I want my kids to think; pay for college AND therapy...
For a story that actually does a GOOD job of trying to explain a parent's undying love and protection I highly recommend MAMA, DO YOU LOVE ME? Despite the kid testing the boundaries, Mom explains that she would feel this way or that if Kid did X, but she doesn't get all Cape Fear. -
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Unsu...
Re: Terrible Kids' books
Wed, July 14, 2004 - 5:34 PMi don't know if they're terrible, but i think they're stupid and sort of crazy too:
GO ASK ALICE
DINKY HOCKER SHOOTS SMACK!
i know those are teen books, but there were in the children's library at my grammar school and i read them when i was ten. and i got hooked on smack at eleven. kidding. but they're the book equivalent of abc afterschool specials, all loaded with 'edgy'issues and 'tough talk'.
shel silverstein is pretty evil, i think. i agree, the tree is really codependent. i laughed when i read that because i always thought that and nobody agreed. and the author photo, man..
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Re: RUNAWAY BUNNY
Thu, July 15, 2004 - 10:35 PMI felt kind of the same way when I first read this book....
but ok, here is the thing about it... I think it's one of those books that kids get more than adults. Because, yeah, *I* totally read it as this child that is clearly trying to get away from an overprotective (or controlling) parent, but my daughter LOVED it... and not even, like wanting to read the book itself over and over, but she loved the idea. She makes a game of it now. She asks me how far she can go, and what disgusting thing she could be, and wants to know that I would still love her... it makes for some odd conversations.. "YES love, even if you were a BIG, DISGUSTING BUG-JUICE BUGGER! I would still LOVE you and kiss you and cuddle you" etc (yeah, yeah, I know... it's gross if you're not me, I apologize).
:)
The point is, that I think the book is a classic because it taps into some of that boundary testing that kids do in the preschool age range. Though I agree, there are other books out there that tap into it just as well without making you feel like you're telling you are going to stalk them.
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Re: Terrible Kids' books
Thu, July 15, 2004 - 10:26 PMThe Clay Boy
It's about a little boy made out of clay that gets bigger everytime he eats and eventually eats his parents and everyone and every animal in his town.
My son's preschool teacher read this one to him. For three days he wouldn't eat....I mean nothing. After three days, he finally ate a french fry and expressed his great relief that he didn't get bigger! I LOATHE the CLAY BOY.
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Re: Terrible Kids' books
Fri, July 16, 2004 - 6:50 AMSomeone who obviously never read the book decided to stock Edward Gorey's "The Beastly Baby" in my grade-school library. (Maybe because he wrote it as Ogdred Weary they never realized how twisted it might be.) I was probably 8 or 9 when I read it, and I was horrified! As an adult, I now "get" Gorey's humor, but that particular book still carries with it a taint due to my encounter with it at such a young age. -
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Re: Terrible Kids' books
Sat, July 17, 2004 - 8:31 AM"Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch freaks me out. The mother just sneaking around like that, and isn't there a scene with someone in the bathroom? It's weird. I like that someone's mom is going to love them forever, but the crawling on the floor thing was weird.
This is a teen book, but it traumatized me in the fifth grade and I'm 27 now and haven't gotten over it...Where the Red Fern Grows. Bad, bad, bad book.
Darcy -
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Re: Terrible Kids' books
Mon, July 28, 2008 - 8:59 PMLittle Black Sambo
anything with trite, preachy or predictable moralizing in it
anything saccharine or cutesy-pie!
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Re: Terrible Kids' books
Mon, December 1, 2008 - 2:29 PM"The City of Ember"
Way before the movie came out, I'd read an interview with the author, and she'd said that she'd written it twenty years previous, didn't like it, put it away, pulled it out again twenty years later, polished it up, published it.
She should've taken twenty more years. Terrible, terrible storytelling.
