To be annoyed by these children's books?

[Booboostoo]

I got these two books on Amazon unseen (we live in the south of France so this is the only option for English language books).

One of them has the following plot: "What's this? A big, scary dog is jumping over the fence! All the other monsters run and hide. But whatever is Boris doing? 'Nice dog, kissy, kissy, kissy, kissy!'. Hooray for clever Boris! His tickly kisses have scared the big dog away!"

Now why would you want to present big dogs as scary? And if you MUST have a scary dog in a children's book why approach it with kisses???

The second one goes: "Bedtime! We need to clean Dudley's teeth. But Dudley won't open his mouth! How can we make Dudley open wide? Shall we tickle under his chin? Shall we stroke his beak? Or shall we tell him off? That worked!"

Now why couldn't we be kissing here? Surely kissing would be a better way to get him to open wide!

It's only a little rant but I am throwing away the first book and defacing the second book with my own dialogue!

My DS is 1 and loves "Lost & Found" and "Up & Down" by Oliver Jeffers. He's a bit penguin daft though...

He's not impressed by the Book Start books we got from our HV's, and keeps making blah noises when he sees them - he's obviously going to be a book critic when he grows up!

I looked the Bartholemew books up on Amazon and they have great reviews, so clearly it's just me. DD loves them, it's me who hates them.

No kisses in the ones I've read, maybe they were from before Mrs Bear left, when George was a bit softer Now all he does is shout the title of the book (USE YOUR POTTY, GO TO BED, EAT YOUR DINNER) at Bartholemew.

I do love Penguin but then I love Polly Dunbar. DD is a bit meh about it (she loves Tilly & friends though).

YABVU. The Boris books et al have been responsible for many a child picking up a book who would not normally do so. As for those of you who only read the books you like yourself to your children, why don't you next time go book shopping with DM, better still, DMIL, and only buy the books she wants you to read!

There are so many wonderful books out there. Children aren't going to pick up on 'issues' until they're ready to do so or unless they're force fed them every time they have the book read to them.

Rant over. Will now remove self from soap box before vertigo sets it:)

Where in the south of France are you?

There is an English bookshop in Antibes with quite a few childrens books

'As for those of you who only read the books you like yourself to your children, why don't you next time go book shopping with DM, better still, DMIL, and only buy the books she wants you to read.'

ROFL, I've never heard it put like that before, that's very good.

I love Calm Down Boris. We have had fun reading it. It's also very good for when serious relatives or friends who aren't used to relating to children come to visit - it sort of scripts the interaction IYSWIM, which I suppose is why some people hate it, but it's a handy ice breaker.

However I don't feel the need for anyone to read books to their children that they themselves hate - it is more fun for everyone if it is a book you both enjoy, and there are so many books out there it should be possible to find plenty that work for both parents and children.

Wow there are some seriously weird books out there!

@madamehooch: happy to let DD choose but she is only 5.5 month old!!

@ButHeNeverDid, thanks but we are completely on the other side, between Toulouse and Carcassonne.

Dd loves the Boris book. But then, we have two dogs...one fairly large so she isn't at all scared!

The weirdest one we have is Mog. The bit where the burglar gets a cup of tea after breaking in . I'd have taken a baseball bat to him not got the fecking tea pot out.

We have Mog & the Baby. The lady whose baby escapes through the window and nearly gets hit by a car while in the care of the Mog household is also surprisingly sanguine about the situation.

Hairy MacLairy is COOL! leave him alone.

Mog - we loved mog,
And bartholomew
And the Large books - my husband and I can quote chunks of them out
and Mr Bear is tired, Mrs Bear is tired

A great one when you have to fill in reading book lists at Reception is
"Walter the farting dog" It's American and hysterical. unsuprisingly it was DS2s fave (bought for him by a naughty aunty). Also 'How does a Dinosaur Get Well soon?' Oh and 'Just like Floss' That's soooo lovely. I'm getting all nostalgic.

Flyingmum

I will have you know that Walter the farting dog is CANADIAN!

But can I take this opportunity to pimp the "Don't let the pigeon..." books, they are hilarious!

And also all the Sandra Boyton books, Hippos go berserk in particular.

If you like "Don't let the pigeon..." have you seen Elephant and Piggie books Primaface?

I LOVE Walter the Farting Dog, in fact I have a cuddly toy Walter that farts loudly when you squeeze his tummy.

Mumbling, I edit like that too. My pet hate is "the farmer's wife", I just leave out the "wife".

There's a bit in Topsy and Tim meet the Firefighters were a female firefighter tells Tim that women can be firefighters BUT they have to be be as strong as the men that I edit out and say something like anyone can be a firefighter if they are strong and clever enough.

I bloody hate Topsy and Tim, it's all so smug!

Thanks Blatherskite, will look it up now!

With four farting dogs and a super farty baby I just have to get Walter the Farting Dog!

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Dont let the pigeion reminds me of another by the same author, Knuffle Bunny....great pics and story.

'Don't let the pigeon....' is brilliant. It's so much fun whining at your children so they have to keep saying 'No!' to you

Yes, Knuffle Bunny is lovely too!

My one is 'ten little fingers and ten little toes' it is meant to be about diversity in that all the babies are born in different places and look different but 'both of these babies as everyone knows, has ten little fingers and ten little toes'.

I mean really, why does everyone know that?? My dd has seven little fingers. Can't workout whether to edit it or ditch the book (which was a gift from a friend of MIL who, to be fair, hasn't met dd)

Pigflu, that's a tough one! I think Ten little fingers is a lovely book, and there have been quite a high number of recent threads where young children have expressed thoughts or feelings that can be construed as "racist", so I don't think you can say that everyone knows that. My children are mixed race and have friends of every colour and race, so obviously I think it is important for children to know that skin colour doesn't matter, but I have often wondered how would you present it to a child with a different number of fingers or toes. I would probably ditch it to be honest. Number of fingers trumps skin colour I say!