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Original poster

Which is your most hated book for reading aloud to your DCs

131 replies

BarcodeZebra · 04/12/2008 20:35

It has to be almost any of the Mr Men books, for me. They are unreadable. I seriously doubt that anyone bothered to read them aloud at any point during the editorial process (a criticism that could be leveled at any number of books published today too.)Reading them aloud is like the verbal equivalent of walking barefoot over broken bricks.

Come on, dish the dirt. Which ones really make your heart sink when your child hands them to you to read out?

OP posts:
thatsnotmymonster · 04/12/2008 20:56

LOL I thought it was just me but no!

Noddy
Fireman Sam
Thomas the Tank
Mr Men
Bob the Builder and

Mighty Machines

And no matter how much I try to steer them towards choosing a different book (I think we should have The Snail and the whale tonight...) they always choose one of the above.

PeppermintInAPearTreePatty · 04/12/2008 20:56

The Miffy books.

I love the illustrations but the rhymes are really clumsy and don't scan well (probably because they are translated though).

harpomarx · 04/12/2008 20:55

I'm with FallenMadonna. I quite like Mr Men books and have even bought them for dd

I always think of Arthur Lowe when I'm reading them, he did the voice in the tv series brilliantly!

but totally agree about Thomas Tank and Noddy. And Dora Explorer.

And - and I bet I am in a MN minority here again - do find Lauren Child books a bit draggy. Not just charlie and lola but the long ones she did like Princess and the Pea and Hubert Horatio. I just find them really wordy and cutesy and predictable.

CatMandu · 04/12/2008 20:55

Bob the builder - ghastly, luckily ds has grown out of them.

NorbertDentressangle · 04/12/2008 20:55

The Elephant and the Bad Baby

...makes me want to chew my own arm off

itcameuponamidnightexpress · 04/12/2008 20:54

paws - it's crapola isn't it? Such a lame ending. 'Handwash'. WTF? And now every time I read it, through gritted teeth, I am reminded of Claire Balding reading it badly, which makes it even worse. Ugh.

Comma · 04/12/2008 20:54

i did like "diggers are good at dig dig digging"
Still know it off by heart, oh and "lucas was a lion with a very loud ROAR, it was so loud it often scared his friends"

Indith · 04/12/2008 20:54

Fireman Fergus "leaping ladders" on every bloody page.

2cats2many · 04/12/2008 20:54

Anything the 5th time over. My dd loves a bit of repeatition.

eandh · 04/12/2008 20:53

I am so over reading dd1 flippin disney princess (featuring her) collection

and dd2 loves usbourne lift the flap farmyard tales (ooo where is daisy the cow? I honestly have no idea only read it every night for the last 5 months grrrr)

LazyLinePainterJane · 04/12/2008 20:53

aside from the awful Mr Men (DH is very good at summarising each page) I REALLY hate Spot the fucking dog. so badly written with no story.

Comma · 04/12/2008 20:53

AND that Mole who dun a shit book is

shit

tassisssss · 04/12/2008 20:53

Thomas the Tank

Detest them!

Comma · 04/12/2008 20:53

Mr men or any American imported book.

Pawslikepaddington · 04/12/2008 20:52

Stripey horse here too-even dd gave up on that one! And the lighthouse keeper books!

scifinerd · 04/12/2008 20:52

I was going to say my ds's superman annual (deeply dull) but reading through this I am reminded of the horrors of Thomas tedium, Noddy hell and a range of diabolical disney books. I also hate the ones filled with detailed narrative on the workings of a steam locomotive or bulldozer. God I am sending myself to sleep just thinking of them.

As for my dd, thank the lord she can now read those rainbow fairy books herself, they are the little girls version of mills and boon.

And why do they never want you to read the good ones like slinky malinki or the gruffalo or is that just my ds?

BTW I love horrid henry.

Itsjustsorandom · 04/12/2008 20:50

The Mr Men books - too many words on each page for a young audience imho

itcameuponamidnightexpress · 04/12/2008 20:49

Oh the Stripy Horse book (the one they sometimes read on the bedtime hour on CBeebies). I hate it - stupid story, badly written.

Could also live without ever seeing Richard Scarry books again - esp the counting one. Love the pics though, and one of them is ds1's all-time fave, so it's a case of over-familiarity breeding utmost contempt.

Have just completely refused to buy anything related to Thomas the bleedin Tank Engine, as I think it would drive me over the edge.

MrsMattie · 04/12/2008 20:48

Thomas the fecking Tank Engine. Bores the arse off me.

Pawslikepaddington · 04/12/2008 20:47

Those disney books-bleurgh! And books that look small but go on forever when you have promised them you will read two of them!

Original poster
BarcodeZebra · 04/12/2008 20:44

We secretly destroyed The Noddy books. I thought I was going to slit my wrists...

OP posts:
Pantofino · 04/12/2008 20:43

Dora the fecking explorer.

Original poster
BarcodeZebra · 04/12/2008 20:43

It's reading Mr farkin Topsy bloody Turvey that tipped me over the edge. You must have nerves of steel. FM.

No one knows where he came from because no one saw him arrive apart from the person who saw him fall of the train of course (on the next page FFS). Gah!

OP posts:
slayerette · 04/12/2008 20:43

I don't mind the Mr Men. I hate Noddy with a passion but fortunately DS, at the grand old age of 5, is now on chapter books and he and I have been absorbed in the Famous Five since August - 11 down and 10 to go so plenty to keep us happy for a few more months! I love reading them to him!

frogs · 04/12/2008 20:42

Building Machines and What They Do. Every bit as bad as it sounds.

I'm also not overly keen on Mummy Laid an Egg. Or the Mister Men. And Horrid Henry has a very leaden prose style -- luckily by the time they were requesting that all mine were on the verge of being able to read to themselves. Ditto the Rainbow Fairies. [puke emoticon]