Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to really dislike it when picture books are just wrong?

445 replies

mousyfledermaus · 18/10/2011 21:44

for example "a squash and a squeeze" the house from the outside does not match (windows/doors) the inside.
not to mention funny proportions.

OP posts:
BridgetBust · 19/10/2011 20:58

I may be able to enlighten some of you; in the stage play of We're Going On A Bear Hunt, the opening scene reveals that the mother has died.

Silverlace · 19/10/2011 21:18

I refused to buy a Baby Einstein book once as it has a passage in about a cow and referred to the cow as a he.

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 19/10/2011 21:26
gilmoregirl · 19/10/2011 21:30

Love this thread!

The thing I notice in Squash and a Squeeze was that the egg that the hen laid that was cracked looked like a fried egg - the egg white looked cooked not clear..... will look more closely at the house next time. DS and I are very familar with how the songs go though as have been to see the fabulous Julia and her bonkers somewhat eccentric husband perform them at book festival events (which I cannot recommend highly enough)

I did notice the way Winnie's house changed in the Winnie the witch book too.

Agree re the Little Red train green light book - one minute they are in Italy the next scandanavia????

In the Alfie books I think that Maureen is Mrs Macnally's "big girl" daughter - I think it is in the one where Alfie gets locked in the house and also in the one with the birthday kitten - love love love those books!

stickylittlefingers · 19/10/2011 21:39

gilmoregirl - yep, we were reading the Alfie gets stuck in the house one this evening, and Maureen is Mrs MacNally's big girl daughter. I love the birthday kitten one too (very useful when the family cat died too).

BatmanLovesRobin · 19/10/2011 21:42

Where are Charlie and Lola's parents? Why have Social Care not been informed of their absence by school?

Itsjustafleshwound · 19/10/2011 21:44

And this stupid idea that every farmer has every type of farm animal - that's not a farm, it is a petting Zoo !!!

ningthemerciless · 19/10/2011 21:45

Psammead - the pop up version of the h c does have the butterfly in the middle of the page so you can flap it.

The driver dan story train books always end with 'well that was great, how about a story'. Err...

Takver · 19/10/2011 21:49

fleshwound - never play the board game Agricola - it really bugs me that you have to have some of every animal and grow every type of crop to get points! DD always trys to specialise as a sheep farmer and loses as a result Grin

TheSmallClanger · 19/10/2011 21:51

The oldest female character in Bear Hunt is either the nanny, or a relative who probably babysits a lot. I think.

MrsLevinson · 19/10/2011 21:55

Now, it's been a long day and I'm rather tired, but I can't for the life of me see what's wrong with the layout of the house in A Squash and a Squeeze. Please will someone enlighten me so that I can stop looking and get to bed?
Also, in my version of Stick Man there is no green claw, just a foot poking down the chimney.

AblativeAbsolute · 19/10/2011 22:03

Thanks for the possible explanation, Bridget. Rather poignant if the mother has died (though I still think the daughter is too old - but the babysitter explanation is one I hadn't thought of before).

Inspired by this thread, I did A Squash and a Squeeze as DS1's bedtime story tonight. Yes, quite right about the dodgy architecture, but JD is exonerated with regard to the teapot continuity error. We see the original teapot in the process of falling off the table in one scene, so presumably it smashed and the old lady dug out her spare one for the later scenes.

AblativeAbsolute · 19/10/2011 22:05

MrsLevinson in the interior scenes, the window is on the opposite wall from the door. But when you see the house from the outside, the window is adjacent to the door. I assume that's what everyone's talking about, anyway!

MrsLevinson · 19/10/2011 22:10

Now I wondered about that but thought it was the other side of the house?!

ZombieWhirl · 19/10/2011 22:15

What about animals in story books that are friends with with animals that IRL they would EAT. Bugs the bejesus out of me everytime.

So second rate; no that fox is not friends with the duck. That duck is toast.

Likewise cuddly polar bears. No, they eat people.

Grrrrrrrrrrr

Bousy · 19/10/2011 22:41

Brilliant thread. My pet hate is childrens' stories with continuity errors; it's only short, how hard can it be to keep the narrative straight?

When reading 'Look, there's a baby' I always amend the ending to 'Look, there's a baby a bit like you' to compensate for the wobbliness of the mirror.

Hopefully should help with the phrasing of The Highway Rat. Ah, Gilbert...

HerdOfTinyElephants · 19/10/2011 22:48

AddamsflimFlamily, I think you would enjoy There's a Hair in My Dirt .

I saw a book in a gift shop this week about an owl who lives in the wood, looking after all the small furry delicious animals and keeping them safe. Hmmm...

CaptainNancy · 19/10/2011 22:49

The larder cannot be in the place it appears to be, for it would jut out of the house in the pictures of the outside, but it does not.

CristinaaarghdellAaarghPizza · 19/10/2011 23:06

I'm going to have to dig out squash and squeeze when I go to bed now to have a look. Damn you all!

ASuitableGirl · 19/10/2011 23:11

I have realised that possibly I am not as much of a pedant as I believed as I have spotted very few of these mistakes/inconsistencies for myself Blush.

DS always used to get sad at the end of Bear Hunt (think he got moved to tears on more than one occasion).

FessaEst · 19/10/2011 23:14

YY to the water issue in "The Tiger...", that bothered me even as a child!

My particular problem is in Room on the Broom, when the bow is returned, and it says that she ties her hair in a bow, and I always think the bow would be much better. Small but it gets me everytime!

MamaMaiasaura · 19/10/2011 23:15

Mrs levinson - the green claw is on page with Santa out of chimney and it's very claw like eek

FessaEst · 19/10/2011 23:15

& in "The Ticklemonster" - tickly does not rhyme with sticky!

AScatteringofPoorSardines · 20/10/2011 00:21

I feel so much less alone Grin

We have The Princess and The Wizard by Julia Thingumyjig and it drives me mad that the princess changes herself into a blue fish and hides in the moat where all the other blue fish are and yet the wizard can still find her, not by wizardy recognising magic, oh no, but because the magic book tells him she is a blue fish in the moat. It doesn't tell him which blue fish.
DD- but how does he know which one she is Mummy? There are loads of blue fish.
Me- I think he can tell by her eyelashes
DD- would he be able see eyelashes through the water then? Why didn't she hide in some weed, he wouldn't see her eyelashes then.
Me- this faceConfused

Same with the chicks- there are loads of them, how can he tell?

oxeye · 20/10/2011 00:34

oh the claw like hands in Stick Man - I think it is a happy flaw, poor Axel Schaffer clearly can't draw hands - if you look in his other books he always hides them, only he couldn't with Santa so weirdy claws are the result! I like it, makes me feel generally better that he's not perfect

And ::sad person alert:: I once listened to a whole programme on Going on a Bear Hunt - the bear wandering off at the end is a "poignant coda" or some such to the story:
Was he going off sadly alone?
Is he meant to represent the fact that that which we fear has feelings too?
Was he going home after a lovely tea and a play?
Is he merely slopey shouldered, not sad?

All sorts of possibilities, you see? I like to think he's going back to his bear family after a long day playing with the Hunt family Grin

Swipe left for the next trending thread