To think this "Timothy Goes to School" book is wildy inappropriate

[WimpleOfTheBallet]

In one of Rosemary Wells collections "Timothy's Tales from Hilltop School" there is a story called "Tubette" about Doris the beaver...my DD loves Timothy on TV so I got her the book on Amazon but as I was reading this partcular story, I had to sensor it a bit.

It's all about Doris getting teased for her size...the other kids call her "Tubette" and as a result she stops eating! she then gets faint and feel unwell...from this she apparently learns to accept herself as she is...

This is a book for early years kids and I think it's utterly supid to raise issues which most 4-5 year olds haven't even thought of!

Also...they're very badly written...the charactrs are great in the TV version...as are the tales but the books are a pile of poo!

So AIBU to think this is really badly judged and Penguin shouldn't be printing thngs abiut 5 year ol Beavers toying with eating disrders?

Amazon reviws whch agree with me!

It's irritating. There are so many writers trying to break into children's fiction and so many books that I have read are just awful!

Very often the vocabulary is stilted and not as expansive as it could be, and storylines are weak and clunky.

This book you describe sounds AWFUL!

No I think it's a good thing. Kids need to learn that not eating is bad for them and can indeed make them dizzy and ill.

If it glamourised not eating or didn't include the consequence...then I would say it's a bad thing.

mutz at 5 they don't need to learn about not eating through being called fat! They only need to know whats good to eat and why.

In the book the teacher does nothing about the situation and the final message includes a (thin) cat comforting Doris thatif she eats bette she will be nice and thin!

misshissy this book is VERY clunky.

Well, as long as you can ensure that no 5 year old is ever called fat by his or her classmates, I would be happy for there to be no sensible constructive stories to help that child understand what's going on.

mutz at 5 they don't need to learn about not eating through being called fat! They only need to know whats good to eat and why

I beg to differ. With the rise in childhood obesity being a very real thing..and children being fairly cruel at times, there must be plenty of young children being teased about their weight.

All this book seems to do, is point out that if you're being teased about your weight, it's dangerous to stop eating because you'll make yourself ill.

The book sounds dull but it's not the first to bring up food/fat issues. Lazy Town for instance has Sportacus suffer from what seems to be a diabetic hypo after eating something sweet and teaches that eating junk food = lazy person.

Most 5 year olds will have come across the idea that fat is undesirable and as a parent of a fussy eater I've also told my child to eat in order to stay healthy

Not that it's overly controversial, but Postman Pissing Pat? Dreadfully written! Hateful!

Sporticus....

'Postman Pissing Pat' sounds like some sort of fetish porn movie....

We got a second-hand Mr Men book about Mr Cheeky, that was actually written by a child who'd won a competition.

In it Mr Cheeky calls glasses wearers "four eyes". Cue shocked silence in my house. We binned it. If DD (year 1) had copied that she'd be in serious trouble at school.

Fashions in kids books change so much. Rosemary Wells' original stuff is ancient, although her characters and drawings are reused all over the place (Timothy, Max and Ruby etc.) You just have to see if you like it before buying, and read the reviews. I agree that name-calling about being fat isn't something I'd want my DD to read about. But we can't rewrite ALL the kids books in the world for the current perception of political correctness - which will have changed again in a few years.

My mum got DS a Postman Pat book from a charity shop printed some time in the 90s. Story is, Pat eats various cakes, sweets, has two sugars in his tea, (the horror!) etc etc. Gets fat. (in a week!) His wife disapproves and calls him "Postman Fat!". So Pat decides he's "slimming" and basically refuses all food offered to him in the book, at one point he comes across the doctor who approves of this method of weight loss () and then at the end of the next week, he can fit into his suit again and his wife says "That's better!"

DS loves it, but I think there's something slightly sinister about it

Yeah see that is madness Bertie and totally different to the point being made in the Timothy book.

Not really Mutz...it's about the same! Except in Doris' case rather worse...she is happy the way she is..then a spiteful cat call her fat..so she starves herself, feels ill and then starts eating again..at which point the cat concedes it was wrong but suggests that if Doris did more physically then she would be "nice and thin" like her!

Prior to this Doris's Mother had comforted her that she was "beaver shaped" which is as she is meant to be...and yet we still suffer the fattist cat getting the last word!