to really dislike it when picture books are just wrong?

[mousyfledermaus]

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

[PootlingAndDoodling]

Love this thread

I also wondered if the tallest girl was the mum or not in Bear Hunt - i thought it might just be a nice bit of misogynism in play like the advert where the bloke appears to forget his anniversary and scatters rose petal for his "teenage daughter"....

DS1 found Funnybones incredibly hard to read - white writing on black - when he bought it home from school, more so than other books. When i told the teacher she said yes it happens a lot and has been a complaint in the past so why continue to use it then??

[PootlingAndDoodling]

When i was a child i used the think the boy in 'where the wild things are' was a rabbit.... having an adventure. Took me into adulthood to realise they were novelty pyjamas on a normal boy....

[beanandspud]

Forgot to mention that in 'A Squash and a Squeeze' there is a disappearing plant on the windowsill in the final pages - it's there on the inside but not on the outside and the teapot changes colour but maybe that's just pedantic

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

This whole thread is pedantic, that's what I like about it!

[PootlingAndDoodling]

Actually, having just googled - he looks more like a cat - no idea why i used to think he was a rabbit....

[VenetiaLanyon]

Pedants steer clear from the metre in "Class 2 at the Zoo." The author has clearly no idea about scanning poetry, or that, if you want the emphasis to be correct in reading out loud, you need to include whole sentences on the same page.

I correct "Marv and me" to "Marv and I" in Charlie and Lola, and also help out the burglar in Burglar Bill, and Mr and Mrs McGregor in "The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies" with their grammar....

I thought that the bear hunt family were experiencing the unfortunate consequences of a day out without the mother; were they at all prepared with coats and the like for snowstorms etc? Would the mother have let them cross the river like that? I rest my case...

[notcitrus]

In ELEPHANT where the elephant is clearly imaginary, Grandma asks if the elephant messed up somewhere and ate all the cakes and the boy says "'Well.... yes,' I said truthfully"

No!!! Either the elephant is real so Grandma and Grandpa can see the bloody animal, or you're not being truthful!

I leave the word out when reading it but it gets on my wick every time. Shame as it's a lovely book otherwise. And ds will learn to read soon.

But then I'm the one who reads Mr Quiet and adds to 'he had to go shopping' with 'because there aren't any supermarkets or online deliveries in Loudland'...

[frightstick]

I'm pretty sure that in Alfie and the Birthday Surprise, Bob MacNally has his 50th birthday.

Older people were older in them days - before Mary Portas and all

[CristinaaarghdellAaarghPizza]

Oh no, the eldest female in Bear Hunt is definitely a daughter, not the mum.

And yes to Alfie's mum being a social worker :o I always feel really bad when I read the story about the shop in the garden and wonder when I'm going to get asked why I am so grumpy every time I am forced to play shops for five minutes when Alfie's lovely mum and grandma spend the entire afternoon buying seeds and berries

[frightstick]

Also glad I'm not the only one who is confused about Bear Hunt. I think I finally came down on the side of 'older sister'.

Although DS1, who is 5, announced last week that he thinks they didn't go on a bear hunt at all, but were under the covers the whole time, and Daddy was just telling them all a story about the teddy bear.

Sent me into a completely new reality crisis

[TougherThanTheRest]

But Venetia, Burglar Bill is supposed to speak badly to signify his working class jolly good chap even though he steal stuff credentials.

I don't like the sad bear at the end of WGOABH either, let alone my DD.

[CaptainNancy]

Ha! frightstick- you may well be right what a fantastic interpretation.

joyfulpuddlejumper- we haven't read 'an evening at alfie's', so I didn;t know that.

In the 'Rabbit's Nap' book, I do a fake snore btw.

lifeofKate - funny about Sophie's nightie- my 2yo always comments on her father's suit, as it is the same pattern as DH's pyjama trousers!

[TipOfTheSlung]

In 'we're going ona bear hunt' why do they tiptoe back out of the cave when theres a bear chasing them?

[frightstick]

picklesarnie when reading Dear Zoo I always end it by telling DS2 that maybe he would have had more success if he had written to a pet shop!

[PootlingAndDoodling]

The only thing i can think of is that the final picture of 'squash and squeeze' is set some time later when she has moved the flowers and changed her teapot - to show ongoing happiness at big house...

...i notice the wise old man is still visiting though - maybe he's after a squash and a squeeze.....

Can't explain the amazing moving doors and windows though....

[nickelbabe]

oh blimey.


I sell these books to kids yo uknow.

to kids

I feel so very bad now.

[frightstick]

I always find the picture on the wall that looks like Hitler disturbing in Squash and a Squeeze, lebensraum and all that.

[WhollyGhost]

Cattle which are male are called bulls or bullocks, if castrated. Cows is generally only used as a plural when referring to e.g. a field of cows, all female.

One of my DD's favourite books does feature a male "cow", with udders, if I could find it I'd name and shame the authors.


It is like having a male "hen" laying eggs.

[AKMD]

Tip because the dad and his teenage fling are clearly completely incompetent and should never have sole care of children.

[WhollyGhost]

and my DD does point out that, in Good Night Moon, the lady whispering hush, is not a lady but a rabbit....

[PootlingAndDoodling]

Frightstick - clearly her husband in his later years - same chap that's with all the farm animals in the other pic - but grown a moustache...

Doubt the 'wise old man' would be anywhere near her if he thought she was a Nazi widow

[vincentvangogh]

I have a huge problem with a book I have received no less than THREE times from Bookstart. Peepo Baby contains the line "who's that splashing in the bath? Peepo duck, you make me laugh."

Bath and laugh do not rhyme unless you pronounce "th" as "f". We don't all live in SE London, y'know.

[purplewerepidj]

Aunty Pidj and Uncle PidjDP would like to confess

All books bought for car-obsessed 4yo DNephew are scrutinised to ensure that makes and models are clearly identifiable and accurate

I have been know to buy him books simply because the car in it has the engine in the back and "is like Mummy's car" (Karmann Ghia)

In my defence, SIL is also a bit of a car nut and finds it hilarious when I ring her to say I've found a Ghia in a child's picture book

[VenetiaLanyon]

Not a book, but an issue with a sing-a-long CD. Spot the painful, painful mistake...

"Ten fat sausages sizzling in the pan, ten fat sausages sizzling in the pan.
If one went pop and the other went bang, there'd be 9 fat sausages etc etc"

[PootlingAndDoodling]

see Vincent - i would have another problem with that - DSs pronounce Bath in the hard northern way like me but say Laugh in the posher southern way which is where they go to school....