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.