The Boy in the Dress is not appropriate class reading for 8 or olds.

[Brightlightsbigcity]

Haven't read this myself, so am willing to accept that this may just be my dcs perception of it, but the feedback from kids talking to me about reading this in class appear to be:

1. The mum and dad fight a lot. Mum leaves.
2. The boy wears a dress. (I have no issue with this. Neither do DC. ) )
3. The dad hides rude, naked picture magazines under the kids bed/s.

I do have an issue with 3. Is it really appropriate for 7, 8 and 9 year olds to learn about naked pic magazines, which are rude, therefore dad hides them? (In the kids room, of all places. ) I'm not clutching pearls, but I don't think this is an appropriate subject matter for this age group, do you?

(I'm almost hoping it's a story from a friend, which got tangled up in the plot somehow... )

I absolutely agree juells

I have read most of the David walliams books with my son, they are fairly awful, not well written, and the females characters are generally portrayed as selfish and obsessed with money. The one including the page 3 girlfriend was dire.

It's telling little boys that men (and older boys) have this male thing they do, looking at nude pictures, which they hide

Yes they do though and that’s the point at which you talk about why that’s not a nice thing to do.....

Plenty of books my kids have read contain stuff about girls doing traditional roles (Famous Five anyone!), for example, and instead of hiding those books I use it as a chance to talk to my dcs about how that’s sexist etc.

Your children will be exposed to things that make you feel uncomfortable and it’s up to you to educate them.

Sadly we can’t hide things from our kids!

but... why can't you read the book to understand why your child has come away talking about nude magazines? Or even ask your child to show you the bits he means?

That way you can form a considered response.... and decide if it is "appropriate class reading"

I know that kids 'get' things from books/people, and are misconstrued etc ALL THE TIME.

How many times on MN do we hear of kids saying stuff like "The teacher shouted at me really angrily " or "I wasn't allowed in the classroom"

and parents go rushing iun to school "why did you shout at my child/why was my child excluded from the room???" when what actually happened is "the teacher raised his voice to get the class to quiet down/the child was asked to leave the room for a moment as they were being disruptive"

All his books are awful so definitely not suitable for any school year. No idea why he is so popular at all. And he's creepy.

yeh i think looking back on it i can see it more so how those types of books helped me and gave me a little more learning and possibly empaty on stuffy subjects.like the illustrated mum by J.W that book really touched and taguth me stuff im sure more than i was aware of at the time but clicks with me now.

Any child who has been on a phone/tablet/computer knows there are things out there that they shouldn't be looking at ... well, at least if there parents have been responsible enough to talk to them about it.

It's responsible to bring it up for discussion, and yes, in primary school They know. Be the one to talk to them about it; don't wait for their peers to do it!

I read it to my 5 year old. He loved it.

I don't have Walliams' books in my house thanks to him being an unbridled misogynist pig and a creep. Am I surprised to read he's slipped porn into children's books? Not really. That parents everywhere are lapping it up as it's so 'every day' and woke...slightly.

@Brightlightsbigcity: "Did this really add to the story in any way?"

I don't know. I haven't read the book. If only there were some way I could rectify that, while also making sure I have my facts straight rather than just going on what my 8-year-old has told me. Any ideas?

Not just Boy in the Dress. I had to try to explain in an age appropriate way what a "Page 3 Stunna" was to a bemused 7 year old reading Billionaire Boy.

I think there are a lot of adult themes and innuendos in DW books. That said a lot of it would go over a kids head - in the way I used to love Carry On films when I was little and had no idea they were so rude!

We have just finished reading Billionaire Boy with ds aged 7 and he loved it. He has autism and can’t read well himself so I read it to him at bedtime and he really enjoyed it, actually laughed out loud in places. If it encourages kids to read more they can only be a good thing.

Willy Wonka does not murder children!!

I have read a few DW books with DD. I was quite disappointed as they are not well written and some of the language used is not very PC. Agree that he doesn't like women or fat people, or at least that's how he writes.

I actually think Boy in a Dress is one of his better ones (and there's no parents fighting as mum isn't even in the book, Dennis just recalls his parents arguing before mum left). Billionaire boy is terrible. DW just churns his books out now one after the other and they are getting worse.

Willy Wonka basically murdered the unsuitable kids at his factory?

I'm not suggesting that the man should be nominated for child guardian of the year, but he hardly murdered them. At the end of the book (or possibly the start of the sequel?) Charlie sees them all from the great glass elevator. Ok Violet is still blue and Mike Teevee has been irreversibly stretched, but they're definitely all still alive.

Haven't read The Boy in the Dress so unlike OP I won't comment.

I get that's what your child has taken from it but if you'd read the book then you'd be able to discuss better with him the message that was being conveyed by that part of the story. It's great to be able to discuss these things with your children before they hear about it from older siblings of friends or class gossip. As you haven't read it you have no idea so are unable to
I don't need to, the teacher did quite a good job, from what DC conveyed to me when we discussed it later. I just didn't think it was appropriate subject matter in a class reader for 7, 8 & 9 year olds. And I don't see how that would add to a storyline which is centered around gender issues and a boy dressing in a (traditionally seen as feminine) dress. Don't think anyone who has read it and can therefore give an informed opinion, has actually explained that yet.
I started reading a different DW book years back, and didn't bother finishing it, as I didn't particularly enjoy the style, and I'm even less likely to now. I agree with the pp who said he's a bit creepy. The addition of crap like this in a kids book when it doesn't add to the storyline in any meaningful way also strikes me as creepy. What exactly was the message being conveyed there then?

naldorian that's one of my favourite Disney songs! I love that film - it was the first film I went to see at the pictures. The themes went completely over my head and it was only watching with adult eyes that I realised how risque it is.

OP, I don't think the porn stashed under the bed is an integral part of the story and could easily not be there.

I think the only reason for it was to highlight that a boy wanting to wear a dress is so taboo that Dennis would rather admit to looking at his dad's porn collection than admit he was reading Vogue magazine. However, DW could have easily covered the point in another way.

When I bought Captain Underpants books for junior school reluctant readers, parents complained that they had toilet humour and some words were spelt incorrectly. The reluctant readers loved them, though.

I should say, I don’t actually think DW books are that good by the way and I think they’re really for older children.

But my kids have read some of them and anything that comes up, we discuss.

OP "What exactly was the message being conveyed there then?"

... maybe READ THE BOOK AND FIND OUT?

You can imagine anything you like, from pretty much anything you like...

I heard that in Little Miss Muffett, a child was traumatised by a huge beast... Is it really appropriate for young children to be exposed to such fearsome ideas?

or

My kids read a poem at school, and there was this farmer's wife that ran around with a knife and cutting up disabled mice.... is it really appropriate, to suggest it's OK to harass and mutilate disabled people?

Ridiculous, no?

so, read the part of the book...and decide properly...

FFS why would anyone be bothered reading a children's book to find out what was the point of including porn in it? There is no point. It's not appropriate.

"FFS why would anyone be bothered reading a children's book to find out what was the point of including porn in it? There is no point. It's not appropriate."

Becasue it doens;t contain porn, perhaps?

Just like Three Blind Mice doesn't encourage children to mutilate disable people... ?

I googled to see what other people thought, and found this
www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/qs_product_tbp?productId=187713&catalogId=10051
and notice that of three reviews left, two felt it wasn't appropriate for 7-year-olds,