My son has a reading book with the worst title ever.

[Soonish]

How did this get published? He's reading a book called 'Mr Ape'.

It's by Dick King Smith and is about a lonely old codger bloke whose wife and children have left him so he gets hold of loads of animals who keep breeding till his house is uninhabitable.

It's not the subject matter. It's the title. WHO gives a book with a title like that to seven year olds? I literally did a double take when he told me what he was reading on the way home.

I know I should probably ignore the inference and move on but every time ds mentions it it sounds like something rather wrong.

If my 11 yr old son LAUGHED at the word rape, he would get a very stern lecture.

laugh at fart, burp, belch etc etc but not at rape. ever.

If the children have made the connection and are finding it amusing there is a conversation with them to be had but you can't blame the reading material.

Gosh , I find the whole premise of your OP both disturbing and very strange.

Don't be silly, OP. YABU.

Goodness, if you lived here in East Anglia, you'd hear everyone talking about oil seed RAPE, as all the farmers round here grow it. (gives my dh hay fever!)

At first I thought you meant it was racist.

There's nothing wrong with this title, and the book sounds fun.

You and your 11 year old laugh at the word rape?

Keep digging that hole....

'mr rape' wouldn't have even entered my head

As an aside my DD brought home a reading book with a picture on the front of Rupert The Bear and Paddington Bear being bundled into a car by some mafia type bears. Intrigued to start that one

I would never ever have read that and thought of "rape".

I have an 11yo boy too. Enough said.

Your 11 year old thinks the word rape is funny?

I've heard it all now.

Nothing wrong with the title.
Lots wrong with sniggering at a 7 year old who can't pronounce words properly.
And as for finding rape a laughing matter - very, very wrong indeed.

My seven year old wouldn't even know what the word rape meant. Neither would my nine year old for that matter.

Yeah I'm a bit at finding Mr Rape funny. Maybe if it was Mr Schitz, but not Mr Rape

I've said it aloud half a dozen times, and I haven't heard "Mr. Rape." How old is your son, OP? Maybe you could use this as an opportunity to teach him to enunciate more clearly.

And I'm sure there are books with far worse titles than Mr Ape! Surely? Or is this really as bad as it gets ? Hee hee hee ....

It's only Mista Rape if you don't speak properly.

I can finally put the internet down. I've heard it all.
Well. All except an accent that turns Mister Ape into Mister Rape.

So you think it's weird Mr Ape got through "editorial control" even though as many people have said it sounds nothing like Rape, yet it's enough said to laugh at The word rape cos you have an 11 year old?

On one hand you over reacting then your completely not reacting enough. You need to do two things here

1. tell your 7 year old to slow down and pro nice his words, model them Mister .... ape

2. tell your 11 year old Rape in any context is not funny, explain why in a way he'll understand!

The weirdest thing is I presume you thought we'd find it as funny as you?!

What the...? I don't even...

How does Mr Ape sound like rape? It certainly doesn't the way I say it.

Blimey.

Laughing at rape, of course. Rape is hysterical and certainly the most natural thing to laugh about with an 11 year old boy...

What a load of nonsense.

You could try ennunciating properly

God, I'm thick. Read the OP and the "rape" inference went right over my head - thought the Op thought it was a racial slur or summat.