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AIBU?

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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:
kipperandtiger · 21/10/2011 02:13

I am guessing that in The Cat in the Hat, the mother wasn't really gone for that long and wasn't actually that far away-she could have been in the garage, sorting something out in the garden, or even just in the cellar/kitchen, as a lot of the timings and realities (like the fish being thrown and balanced) in the story are distorted too. I think it's all in the child's imagination that it was a very long time. Children often think their parents are gone for ages when it's just half an hour and they want that parent's attention. I do admit finding it very odd when I first read it at face value and got to the bit where "mother was out all day", and told the 2 children just to "sit", with nothing else to do.

I actually find it painful reading the double negatives and extra hyperboles in "Charlie and Lola" as they seem to mean the opposite of what the story says. It doesn't seem so strange watching it on tv.

I don't mind the "artistic licence" in the pictures, but I really cannot bear poor grammar and poor spelling, which I've seen in a couple of publications - ending up altering it when I read it (if it's just one error), or just putting the book back in the shop or the library if there were too many errors.

sleepywombat · 21/10/2011 03:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Iggly · 21/10/2011 06:57

Thank you decaff!

I have also checked squash and a squeeze. There are three teapots!! One falls off the table, is replaced by another and on the last page there is a third one. Someone mentioned the flowerpot - that got knocked off but is replaced again but gone at the end.

Bubbaluv · 21/10/2011 07:06

From what I can see the house in A Squash and a Squeeze works so long as you assume there are windows at the back and the larder is downstairs.
She does move the table about a bit though.

Jammyrella · 21/10/2011 07:07

I have also ponderd about the identity of he oldest female in bear hunt. I started thinking she was the mum, but have moved towards eldest daughter. Largely beause she seemed scandlously (sp?) young to be his wife. Also think it is just a game they are playing, with no real bear. And DD gets sad about the bear alone and sad looking at the end.

Not cottoned on about the upside down wings at the end of THC, but always annoyed that the text says beautiful butterfly, and picture so clearly isn't.

But the thing that annoys me most is the "ten fat sausages" rhyme. One went pop and THE OTHER went bang! Which other? Apart from at the end when there are just 2 left, there are multiple other sausages - it should be one went pop and ANOTHER went bang (apart from the last time through.)

Bubbaluv · 21/10/2011 07:09

Oh no, maybe not - unless she has a second bed downstairs near the larder - still tring to imgaine it. Hmm

BoattoBolivia · 21/10/2011 07:42

On Squash and a Squeeze not scanning properly- this annoyed me too, until I bought the Gruffalo songbook, which has the song in it. I think the story was originally written as a song and it is calypso! once you have heard the song, the story really works.

Theas18 · 21/10/2011 08:44

Not really a "not working" story, but a book that was "lost" when my over articulate eldest was 2-3yrs- one of the fabulous Hairy Mclairy books.

If you don't kn Hairy McLairy from Donaldsons Dairy or any of his friends you really should. THey are terrific books. fantastic rhyme and rhythm really does bear repeat reading well.

That is until the one where the dogs get out and dash off to the park- the "chorus" is

"Rollicking here, frolicking there, rollicking frolicking everywhere"

Which is fine until you read the first bit and look at said daughter for the 2nd half and she thinks hard and says "rollicking frolicking..... bollocking"

Yes dear your sense of rhyme is perfect but I think we will forget that one!!!

Woodlands · 21/10/2011 08:49

Psammead wrt Monkey and Me - my DH insists on changing the words to:

Monkey and I,
Monkey and I,
Monkey and I
we went to spy
we went to spy some...
PENGUINS!

He's fine with going home for tea though.

AblativeAbsolute · 21/10/2011 09:29

jammyrella yes, yes, yes to 'the other' sausage!!

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 21/10/2011 09:55

Yes, Squash and a Squeeze works really well if you sing it as per the CD.

Some of the Hairy McLairy's work better than others, we've got one (I think they go to the vets? will check later) doesn't rhyme properly at all.

Starting to feel a bit sad though, as I am realising that it's a while since we've read any of the books on this thread (DCs are 5 and 7) and it has made me feel all nostalgic I want to go and get them all out again now. Except Mr Men, wouldn't care if I never saw them again!

LadyInPink · 21/10/2011 10:28

Have just got out the squash and a squeeze book for DD and her friend to look at. They noticed that the teapot on the 1st page has coloured in flowers but a few pages on it's just outlined flowers. The white and blue teapot does come a cropper i reckon as it looks to be falling off the table and about to smash when the cow is dancing on the table hence why she has a new different one on thre last page.

Can't explain the window moving about though but the cupboard sems to be at the back of the house so could be sticking out the back where we can't see.

Checked stickman too and Santa is wearing a green glove, later on he has them off and normal drawn hands are shown, then in his sleigh he has the green gloves back on again so definitely not a claw.

BedatHogwarts · 21/10/2011 10:34

Does anybody have 'Barn on Fire' from the Usborne Farmyard Tales series?

It starts off well, with a female farmer. But then the incompetent firemen fail to spot that the barn isn't actually on fire, but the smoke is coming from a small campfire where a couple are cooking some sausages in an adjacent field.

earthpixie · 21/10/2011 10:43

My DS got a book from the library a while ago, The Little Red Tractor or similar, it was one of series.
The main plot involved a farm worker getting manure splashed in his eyes and staggering around all day in pain, scaring children who thought he was a monster.
Lovely.

knitpicker · 21/10/2011 11:13

Haven't time to read the whole thread so apologies if someone else has already pointed out the shocking situation of Pippi Longstocking - I can hardly bear to read it, the poor child. I know the neighbours tried to stage an intervention and she was having none of it but clearly someone should have called Social Services.

houseworkhorror · 21/10/2011 11:16

The thing that really gets me about "Barn on Fire" is that at the end, everyone is laughing about the hilarious mistake. All I can think is that the hay barn, which is full, is soaking wet and all the hay is ruined. What are the animals going to eat over winter? The farm could go bust buying new food for them.

I clearly overthink these things and have spent too long watching the hay disaster episode of Victorian Farm. Grin

Original poster
mousyfledermaus · 21/10/2011 11:20

knitpicker just finished reading pipi longstocking with ds. social services try to take pipi to the orphanage, but she is a teeny little bit reluctant.

OP posts:
MistyB · 21/10/2011 11:39

Love, love, love this thread!! In a house full of pedants, we spend many an hour discussing how it's just the writers imagination and really there could not be penguins in the shop in The Last Polar Bear and while it is technically feasible that Lions and Tigers could have lived in similar locations in parts of India, it is unlikely that Zebras and Giraffes lived there too!! We have also questioned the ridiculousness of the song "The sun has got his hat on" but generally agree that "The Sun is a ball of burning gas" has less of a ring to it!!

LizzieMo · 21/10/2011 12:27

My main issue is with 'Farmer Duck'. Don't we all feel sad for the poor , oppressed duck slaving away for the mean farmer. Right up until the last page, when having chased away the mean farmer on behalf of the duck, the other animals are shown doing all the work whilst the duck is standing around like a dictator giving the orders!! How the oppressed quickly becomes the oppressor.

babybarrister · 21/10/2011 12:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Neverknowinglyunderfaffed · 21/10/2011 12:37

And how many books have dinosaurs and cavemen in the SAME story! Dinosaurs extinct about 30 million years before us humans arrived. . I always point this out to my 3 DSs who groan and raise their eyes each time....

Peetle · 21/10/2011 13:05

Don't get me started on "the way back home". The boy flies a petrol engined aeroplane up to the moon, which is a crescent in the sky and about the size of a large house. He then parachutes back to Earth to get some petrol and gets back to the moon by climbing up a rope lowered by his Martian friend.

I mean, if you can parachute down from the Moon, why do you need petrol for your aeroplane, can't it glide down ?

stealthsquiggle · 21/10/2011 13:12

yyy to so many of these.

The elephant never bloody well says please either

The Gorilla is tiny and so not a baby - but I love that the elephant has a cuddly Babar

I have always assumed the Bear Hunt family were just very spread out or step-siblings, but definitely all siblings - although they don't stay dirty after the mud, which annoys me. It had never occurred to me that the mother was anywhere other than not there for the day, though Shock - and yes, I have always wondered why one would tiptoe out of the cave when being pursued by a bear, and DS and I always say "poor bear" at the end - he only wanted someone to play with Sad

PMSL at "Monkey and I, we went to spy..." - too late, I am afraid - DD (and her best friend, who happens to be a cuddly monkey) only just got it, and DD is on the verge of reading, so I don't think I would get away with changing it - and Monkey chooses it every time it is his turn to choose story.

Oh, and for good measure - Little Tiger in "I don't want to go to bed" has an exceptionally unlikely set of friends - but I do love that there are as many Daddies putting small animals to bed as Mummies (and I love that Mummy Tiger loses her temper in the first place...)

slimyak · 21/10/2011 14:21

We have a baby Einstein book where cow puffs his cheeks full of air. His cheeks, what kind of trans gender bovine is this?

DD1 loves Hairy McClary books, I shall look out for the frolicking, rollicking, bollocking book Grin

Butterfly upside down annoys me too.

Basky177 · 21/10/2011 14:22

Loving the therapeautic ranting on here Smile

Our DS is only 5 months old but DH and I have given up on 'That's not my tractor', it's a completely different tractor on each page so never mind that it's not my tractor because of the smooth funnel, it's also a different colour, size, type and has no resemblence at all. Humph!

checks to see if there is a 'needs to get more' smiley