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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:
Basky177 · 21/10/2011 14:23

oops that's not supposed to be in bold type - too busy ranting to type properly [hblush]

melrose · 21/10/2011 14:33

Mog, who the hell has a cup of tea with the bloke they have just found burgling the house!!!!

BlathersFright · 21/10/2011 14:48

LibraryLil The roses in Alice in Wonderland are supposed to be Painted! The queen of hearts wanted red roses but they planted white ones by mistake so the cards have to paint them all red before she sees and cries "orf with their heads!

WhoIsThatMaskedWoman · 21/10/2011 14:49

MistyB, you obviously haven't heard They Might Be Giants' seminal "The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas" aka "Why does the Sun Shine?" and their even more pedantic, but not quite so catchy follow up "The Sun is a Miasma of Incandescent Plasma" aka "Why Does the Sun Really Shine?".

Brilliant songs, but responsible for my 6 yr old DS making a rather unfortunate intervention in the year 5 astronomy assembly.

stealthsquiggle · 21/10/2011 14:52

Basky, I hate to break it to you, but "that's not my tractor" has lots of friends and you will be given all many of them over the next couple of years. I think you need to come to terms with the fact that the mouse is just citing one example of the many ways in which the tractor is unlike his one.

nickelbabe · 21/10/2011 14:55

it is olay to be "monkey and me" because it's followed by "we went to spy".
the we basically makes it a whole new sentence.

nickelbabe · 21/10/2011 14:58
stealthsquiggle · 21/10/2011 15:07

I love that - and the other videos it points to - can't wait to show DS - he was so impressed when Daniel Radcliffe sang the element song.

nickelbabe · 21/10/2011 15:15

I've decided that the baby must listen to those songs now instead of church music.
Grin
They Migth Be Giants are cool anyway, so this just adds to it!

trinitybleu · 21/10/2011 15:17

re: What the Ladybird Heard - on the back page, the ladybird is beside the scarecrow.

WhoIsThatMaskedWoman · 21/10/2011 15:29

There's at least 4 TMBG children's albums, we never get in the car without them. I think Here Come the 123s is my fave, but it's a tough call.

BoffinMum · 21/10/2011 16:40

Another thing.

In Peepo the house is a disorganised mess. Yet two women live there. In the 1940s, no self-respecting housewife would have let her home get in such a state.

DontNickMyMilk · 21/10/2011 20:39

Topsy and Tim Meet the Police. Police car has the same registration number as the robbers' car. Do the police know their number plate has been cloned?

Emailed Ladybird but no reply.

Just got a 2nd hand Leap Pad. Got the Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes music one for it. Wrong tunes for half of them and some wrong words too. Think it must be the American version (is there a UK English version?)

Blast from the past at TMBG! I think I was the only person I knew who had the album (weird teen). I didn't know they did kids' stuff too, I just liked Birdhouse in my Soul!

TartyMcFarty · 21/10/2011 20:53

I don't know if it's been mentioned yet, but we just read The Tiger Who Came to Tea before bed.

Now Sophie and her mummy are just sitting down for tea when the tiger arrives. Between them they have a large plate of sandwiches, at least 7 buns, 12 biscuits and a fecking huge cake. Of course the tiger troughs the lot, so they don't get any, but they were also planning to have supper - a huge vat of spuds with some sort of sauce, and presumably the cooked chicken that was in the fridge.

The. Greedy. Bastards.

stealthsquiggle · 21/10/2011 20:56

Not that I disagree about the quantity of tea, Farty, but I think you'll find that supper was for Daddy - Sophie was heading to bed after tea.

TartyMcFarty · 21/10/2011 21:02

But mummy was eating the tea too, and Sophie has sausage and chips at the cafe, so I think she might have scranned a bit of supper if the tiger hadn't so rudely helped himself.

LoonyRationalist · 21/10/2011 21:37

We're going on a bear hunt, we're going to catch a big one, oh what a beautiful day... No it sodding isn't what with that huge great snow storm. It turns me incandescent with rage slightly annoys me every time.

Yy to many many of the others mentioned here too, especially mog on the moon, we've noticed the increase in candles too!

BlueEyeshadow · 21/10/2011 23:10

Just remembered another one - DH always says that the mouse's shadow wouldn't fall like that in the Gruffalo's Child. Never summoned up the energy to care why not though...

JessKM · 21/10/2011 23:24

Muddles
"Cat in the Hat - it clearly states 'our mother was out of the house for the day', there are clearly no other adults within the house. Makes me want to call Social Services everytime I read it"

In every animated version of cat in the hat there is always an awfully crass old babysitter passed out on the couch, she ends up being put in the closet by the cat. Fair play to him.

JessKM · 21/10/2011 23:38

LibraryLil, no excuse for other mistakes, but in the original Alice in Wonderland the Knave DOES order the playing cards to 'paint the white roses red'!

TheNoodlesIncident · 21/10/2011 23:43

trinitybleu, that's surely a blob of poo? If it was the ladybird it would have been glittery rather than black...

In Oh Dear, there appears to be an owl perched on the barn despite its being daytime. The clock shows 1 o'clock, surely incorrect as it is breakfast time, and Buster's lazy grandmother can't be bothered to fix it. I'm also annoyed by the no-eggs-at-the-ducks, but then they do have ducklings. So I guess they don't always consume their duck eggs. And Buster doesn't need a picture to show him his peg at playschool - apparently he can read his name OK (but goes around all day in a sleepsuit, so maybe can't dress himself, although he can manage undressing and having a bath).

In 64 Zoo Lane, Audrey the ostrich has the appearance of a male ostrich - females are mottled brown colours to blend with the savannah environment. I'm another one deeply troubled by geographical inconsistencies and I am SO relieved to discover I'm really not the only one to notice stuff in books and find it jarring....

birdsofshoreandsea · 22/10/2011 07:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Jammyrella · 22/10/2011 17:35

In Mog and the VET why does the vet's nurse bring him tea in bed in the morning? If she is his DW/DP then why does he call her nurse when they are clearly off duty?

Moomim · 22/10/2011 19:38

I'm a bit torn on this one. On one hand the mistakes in kids books make me frustrated, especially when it's straight up misinformation (can't think of good example just now) BUT my own crazy father used to write in my books when they annoyed him. To cite an example I have at least one Little Grey Rabbit book still in my possession in which Wise Owl says Twit Twoo Twit and a book about farm animals with mad scrawl in the margins about worming geese.
So probably I don't think that YABU, but if you ever find yourself reaching for a pen...?

Original poster
mousyfledermaus · 22/10/2011 20:52

oh, moomin, those notes are funny.
I have a book (last chance to see), the last one my dear grandfather and I read together before he died. there are numerous notes in his neat handwriting.bthis book is just so very special to me.

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