Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Children's books

Join in for children's book recommendations.

Original poster

the most overrated childrens books

163 replies

swottybetty · 21/11/2009 14:01

two thomas tank books have somehow made their way into our house. pre-kids i really had no idea just how shite they are. even the bloody drawings are awful. why does my otherwise discerning dd love them so much?

and that feckin beatrix potter? were there no other kids books published at the time thus they achieved popularity simply by existing? seeing as there are loads and loads of kids books now, surely publishers can just write BP off as a unseemly blot on the otherwise wonderful world of childrens books

OP posts:
Quiltedrose · 06/01/2010 21:02

Currently detest anything by Julia Donaldson, she forces all her rhymes and very few of them feel 'natural'. Traumatised myself even further by buying The Gruffalo song book - and now have inane tunes going round in my head for 'his eyes are orange, his tongue is black' etc etc. Can't think it without singing it in my head.

Also hate Bear Hunt. Made worse by the fact that we bought the copy with the DVD on the front and now the sodding DVD is on all the sodding time in the car.

I do love Beatrix Potter(altho' I do change the words as I read to make them a bit more 21st century).

Jux · 15/12/2009 21:23

Mind you, dd and I both loved the Little Bear books - let's go home Little Bear etc. with really beautiful illustrations too.

QueenOfFlamingEverything · 15/12/2009 20:09

Awful aren't they!

My cousin's GF works for the publishing company and occasionally brings bags of freebies for DD who of course is delighted [groan]

RainRainGoAway · 15/12/2009 20:03

Oh god...no...not Fanjita the Fanjo fairy...

Not the same plotline...again...and again...

QueenOfFlamingEverything · 15/12/2009 20:02

All of the Thats Not My Fanjo Crackpipe Whatever books

Any of those interminable series 'written' by students who are paid by the 1000 words - Rainbow Magic Fairies, Secret Unicorn etc.

whoopstheregoesmymerkin · 15/12/2009 19:51

Harry Potter

Jux · 15/12/2009 19:49

Mr Crap and his friends
Miss Shite and her sisters

MrsStig · 15/12/2009 19:24

DH and I have a deal that he never has to read Dr Seuss, and I never have to read Enid Blyton.

MrsStig · 15/12/2009 19:23

Where The Wild Things Are

DS1 was possitively terrified of it...DS2 and DD have been most uniterested.

RainRainGoAway · 15/12/2009 19:19

Thomas the Tank Engine. We have about 30 of them and they make me want to put my head under the Fat Controllers arse so I don't have to hear them.

Mr Men. So deceptively Looooonnnnnggggg.

Beatrix Potter - yawn.

Love Dr Seuss - so trippy, like one great big acid festival.

And no-one else diss the Hungry Caterpillar

waitingforbedtime · 15/12/2009 19:15

That's not my........- crap

postman pat / fireman sam / bob the builder books - utter crap

samsonara · 15/12/2009 19:11

I can't stand the Peter Rabbit books, agree the hungry caterpillar, my ones love Thomas though but hate Gruffalo

nannynobnobs · 15/12/2009 19:04

Where the Wild Things Are- zzzzzzzz.
LOVE Dr Seuss though, our favourite bedtime story ever is What Was I Scared Of? (Sweet Jesus, he's being chased by a pair of empty green trousers!!)
The newer Thomas books are shite- really phoning it in, just to wring more cash out of the franchise.

TheRedQueen · 04/12/2009 20:04

The Elephant and the Bad Baby
The Avocado Baby

I want to weep just thinking about them ...

NotaStepfordWife · 04/12/2009 19:46

oh yes styg - princess poppy. DD got given a box set last christmas, and I know them all by heart. My brain is wasted on this stuff!

WilfSell · 04/12/2009 19:43

God yes Thomas is shit to read. Good on telly though. And I hate Mog too - so badly written.

All the Winnie the Pooh stuff is dull dull dull too. i'm sure it was wonderful when there wasn't much competition...

sticktoyourgins · 04/12/2009 19:36

Princess bloody Poppy.

elkiedee · 30/11/2009 23:02

Aah, it's been done already

elkiedee · 30/11/2009 23:01

Yes, I think we should!

vesela · 30/11/2009 11:35

Given that this is spammed all over the children's book threads, can we report it for deletion?

elkiedee · 30/11/2009 10:50

Pippadippa, if you'd bothered to read the thread (or even the title), you might have realised this isn't the best place to post a plug for a book.

Also, I'd have been more inclined to believe this was a recommendation of something your own kids enjoyed without the quotes from the website.

Pippadippa · 27/11/2009 20:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

DownyEmerald · 26/11/2009 12:45

Onlytheone - so right about how difficult it is to read Charlie and Lola aloud.

Thomas is dire - only dh "allowed" to read them (they are his from when he was small and loved them) he will admit the language is difficult and the plotting difficult to follow.

Mr Men - some ok, some bad, especially the modern ones.

Winnie-the-pooh - I used to precis but found that hard work cos I'd often leave out something I later relied on in evidence! Now (dd 3.5) can read the whole thing. If she's really tired though she can't cope with a whole chapter, but she does make me smile with how she latches on to phrases and brings them out - from really very small, and she doesn't do that with other books the same way.

I know we are getting a set of BP for Christmas - never had them as a child, awaiting with trepidation!

Praminthehall · 26/11/2009 11:50

Another vote for the Gruffalo. Yawn, yawn, yawn.

And 'That's not my ...' In fact I'll extend that to all Usborne picture books which are IMO just parodies and pale imitations of what a good book should be.

I'm a teacher and I refuse to read Brown Bear Brown Bear by Eric Carle after having overdosed on it. Despite liking Hungry Caterpillar I do think he is a bit of a one trick pony and I'm convinced he did some of them with his eyes closed (or got an assitant to do them).

I refuse to read Mr Men books or Thomas books. There is in fact a household ban on Thomas books. DD does get some crap out of the library but I think I have prefected the art of reading on auto pilot. I can read deadly boring stuff but think about what I'm going to cook for dinner etc. Comes in mighty handy.

CitizenPrecious · 24/11/2009 21:42

The Fucking Gruffallo

Swipe left for the next trending thread