To think this is ridiculous?!

[jarhead123]

Someone has put on fb that her daughter is going to school in World Book day dressed as Mrs Hinch?!

Now I quite like her but this is madness yes?!

[IceRebel]

It doesn't bother me if a fancy dress outfit doesn't relate to a book. As long as the child has their imagination is sparked. Nevertheless surely even the most intellectually lacking snob can see this costume is not about the child but has been done as a statement by a parent (a mother).

Exactly. Very well said.

[HeadsDownThumbsUpEveryone]

Oh dear lot of intellectual snobbery about.

It doesn't bother me if a fancy dress outfit doesn't relate to a book. As long as the child has their imagination is sparked. Nevertheless surely even the most intellectually lacking snob can see this costume is not about the child but has been done as a statement by a parent (a mother).

No one would bat an eyelid if the child had been in a football kit or a Cinderella dress (ironically both of which relate to a book). Heck I'd even settle for jeans and a t-shirt and saying they were a character from Percy Jackson or a muggle etc. However no one can deny that dressing a child as Mrs Hinch was the parents choice and a daft one too considering her 'so called book' isn't even out yet.

[user1487194234]

Oh dear lot of intellectual snobbery about.When mine were first at school I was very much ' it must be based o n a real book ' Up half the night making the costumes while working FT. Fast forward a few years and I was 'yes wear your Disney Cinderella outfit or your Man U strip and take your Striker annual.
Does it really matter and how can you judge a parent (a mother ! ) on this basis WGAF

[AuntVanya]

I think people lose sight of the 'book' element and think it's just a general dress up day. You see loads of cartoon / TV/ film characters. I even saw a Lego minifig this morning. I suppose these characters have also been in books but it's missing an opportunity to spread the love of books which stimulate the imagination a bit more!!!
Mrs Hinch has pushed the envelope until it's completely burst... What's that phrase? I don't think they read the memo.....

[downcasteyes]

mirrivan I agree, and I am a clean freak. Clean does not equal beautiful!!

But, more to the point, I honestly don't think she's a role model for young girls. They should be dreaming of being Marie Curie or Jane Austen, not thinking their future happiness can be found at the bottom of a bottle of disinfectant.

[SweatyUnderboob]

I just wish she would stop stockpiling Zoflora and the like... it’s so wasteful. She’s just filling her house up with crap.

[Romanov]

It's hardly going to become a literary classic though, is it? It's to tell her "story". Her struggle with mental illness, how cleaning and using Instagram has helped her deal with anxiety and tips for those who want them. If she's had help getting it out there, so what?

Again, if people don't like it, they won't buy it. There are lots who will like it, so will buy it. It's still her story, whether she had help or not.

But (as per the point of the thread) its not going to be a childs book, and its not even out yet, so what has a video blogger/instagrammer with no books published got to do with World BOOK day?

[MoanaMakeWay]

It's hardly going to become a literary classic though, is it? It's to tell her "story". Her struggle with mental illness, how cleaning and using Instagram has helped her deal with anxiety and tips for those who want them. If she's had help getting it out there, so what?

Again, if people don't like it, they won't buy it. There are lots who will like it, so will buy it. It's still her story, whether she had help or not.

It's a wonder anyone does anything these days, with all the nastiness, judgement and negativity out there. Let people live their own lives how they want to, then go and do the same with yours. Instead of trying to bring harmless people down, why not build them up instead? What message are you sending your own children?

[HeadsDownThumbsUpEveryone]

Why do you assume she hasn't written the book? Can normal people not write books then?

It is fairly well known that celeb books are almost always written by a ghost writer. Mrs Hinch is not a writer she is a women who cleans her home and posts videos and photos on Instagram.

Let's not pretend that she suddenly woke up one morning with the ability to write a book. She will have been assigned a ghost writer to work with her to create the book because she has lots of followers who would buy it.

If she had write the book first and acquired followers as a result of her book you might have a valid point but there is no doubt that the book will have been written by a ghost writer.

[Biancadelrioisback]

I was getting pissed off this morning because all the kids round here and on SM seem to be dressing up as Disney characters (who appears in books after the film) or as other film/TV characters. Its world BOOK day after all. Then I read the thread on here from a mum fretting that the only costume she had for her DD was an Elsa one and she couldn't afford anything else. I hadn't even thought about that before, that some family's will just have to make do with what they've got because they can't afford the right costume. So fair enough! If this kid is going as Mrs whatsherface then it's no skin off my nose. Perhaps this is the best they could do! When I was little only 5 out of 28 kids came in fancy dress for WBD. Usually our school just did a book swap day. My local area did a costume swap event last weekend, everyone had to bring something and, in theory, everyone left with something. I think it's such a great idea!

[downcasteyes]

"Can normal people not write books then?"

Writing is a skill, and quite a difficult one at that. The number of people who believe that they can write greatly exceeds the number who actually can.

We don't know whether Mrs Hinch can write or not, so this isn't a comment on her talents, or lack thereof. There are people who don't live the life of the north London media elite, who nonetheless have a stupendous gift for prose- J A Baker, the nature writer, was one. That said, it is fairly well-established practice in the publishing industry to assign either a ghost writer or a heavily-involved "editor" to help a sleb churn out their first tome.

[MoanaMakeWay]

Why do you assume she hasn't written the book? Can normal people not write books then?

[downcasteyes]

"To be fair you can learn a lot about STEM from domestic cleaning products and their application."

Not exactly Mrs Hinch's specialism, though, is it? She's more interested in squeegeeing the carpet.

I know what you mean, though -one of the most inspiring science presentations I saw as a kid was from a teacher who used 'everyday' chemicals to do apparently 'magical' things, which he then explained chemically. Though when he set fire to a jelly baby, he managed to trigger the fire alarm system across the entire school - cue us all traipsing out to the field in the rain! It really did fire my imagination, though.

[HeadsDownThumbsUpEveryone]

hey, I just saw the article on twitter. Lots of people were discussing it.

No one was criticising you for posting it EveryYouEveryMe. If anything we were criticising the so called Journalists who wrote it. Nevertheless it's always best to double check the validity of what you post before doing so.

[LemonTT]

To be fair you can learn a lot about STEM from domestic cleaning products and their application.

[downcasteyes]

It's the journalist's fault, not yours EveryYou. If I can fact check that in 2 minutes, why didn't they? Where is their professionalism (and where is their editor)?

I am honestly not very impressed by either the ethics or the intelligence of most British journalists.

[EveryYouEveryMe]

hey, I just saw the article on twitter. Lots of people were discussing it.

[HeadsDownThumbsUpEveryone]

Ok, so I looked that statistic up, and the Mirror seem to have got it wrong.

But hey don't let those facts get in the way of a good story . To be fair it was likely the fact was wrong simply based on their assessment that most parents are spending £100 on a costume for world book day.

[downcasteyes]

Ok, so I looked that statistic up, and the Mirror seem to have got it wrong.

It looks to be a stat for the average weeky spend on 'recreation' as a huge category that includes things like cinema tickets etc. www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/expenditure/bulletins/familyspendingintheuk/financialyearending2017#households-in-the-65-to-74-year-old-age-group-spent-nearly-a-fifth-of-their-total-spending-on-recreation-and-culture.

I found stats elsewhere suggesting the average spend on newspapers, books and stationery was about £5.30 a week, which is more like £275 a year.

BLOODY TABLOIDS!

[downcasteyes]

"the average household’s bill for recreation and culture, including books, was just £74.60 last year"

That's quite shocking as an average.

Of course books are expensive and you hope that schools have libraries that are feeding childrens' imaginations for free. I'm not saying that people are bad parents for lending books and not buying them or anything like that. But I'm genuinely really shocked that this is the annual average.

[HeadsDownThumbsUpEveryone]

Also, obviously she's written a book, it's been available on pre-order for months, so to go as someone who hasn't written one at all would be a little strange.

You mean she's had a book ghost written for her and put her name on the cover? In which case surely another reason not to go as her given she hasn't written a book so it would be strange do to so?

[wednesday32]

I'm not referring to Mrs Hinch directly, I am referring to the day in general. I really don't think it matters what the children go as, it is a glorified fancy dress day.

[MoanaMakeWay]

I've never, ever come across a child with a super expensive costume. Most are cheap ones from ASDA or superheroes they already had with the odd homemade and the children who don't fancy dressing up.

Also, obviously she's written a book, it's been available on pre-order for months, so to go as someone who hasn't written one at all would be a little strange.

[Purplecatshopaholic]

How do you go as someone on World Book Day who hasnt actually published a book yet? She could go as me if thats the case....lol