To please check children's books!!

[MrsTermites]

It seems The Boy and the Dog by Seishu Hase is being bought by some older family members for children in the belief it's a lovely story like The Incredible Journey. It is not a children's book - a fifth of it is about a prostitute who gives blow jobs and hand jobs and there is a LOT of other detail. None of this comes up in the blurb, which of course is fine if you know it's an adults book, but it is getting some very shocked young readers I understand.

God some posters just love to have a dig at OP and call them stupid. Makes them feel better about themselves I guess.

OP, I looked at wikipedia/goodreads/waterstones and nothing makes it sound like there’s adult
content. Plus the cover art and title make it seem like a childrens book. I can see how some relatives would buy this as a gift for a child, and how a parent wouldn’t realise anything was amiss.

Give the OP a break. She is just trying to be helpful. Can no-one say anything on MN without getting nasty comments. 🙄

@MrsTermites it's nice of you to warn people but I think an obscure book no one has ever heard of that some relative of yours didn't bother to check what they were buying, won't have found its way into many children's stockings.
Give your relatives some online shopping tips.
With books - check who the publisher is. When it's a children's publisher there is usually a recommended age. Not always but on Amazon there usually is.
If there isn't a recommended age then it would usually be assumed to be an adult book.

As I said, I know 2, my own and a friend's friends child, because I asked around. It's not about how many, it's because it's REALLY inappropriate whilst looking like a children's book. It also doesn't really matter what the book is classified under as it has still been bought by well meaning relatives. I am not saying there is a national trend for buying this for children, I just worried it was in other people's kids Xmas piles too.

I googled it, To me it does look like a kid's book just going on cover design alone...But surely people buying online would read the blurb about it?

I've looked at it on Waterstones and it makes no reference to it being an adult book, rather a heartwarming book about a dog being reunited with its boy owner after a tsunami

The moral of the story is don't buy random books online....go in a book shop instead.

None of the blurb mentions the very active prostitute

Looking at the synopsis, I would buy it if my child asked.

There was a massive debate a few years ago whether boks should have age certificates. Honestly, I think it would be useful at times.

Also, with the best will in the world, you can skim through books thoroughly before buying (less easy with limited online samples, mind), but it's still easy to miss large sections that contain inappropriate language or themes. Waterstones and the like don't tend to be too fond of people sitting there actually properly reading the books that haven't yet been (and may not be) paid for.

I think some authors deliberately try to be subtle about their intentions and content - presumably so that (hopefully) adults who want that sort of stuff can enjoy salacious content without advertising it to everybody on the train; but that can have the 'alcopop' effect of drawing (knowing or otherwise) interest from older children, in a way that Jilly Cooper 'romps' or a bottle of Glenfiddich wouldn't.

Why do you think it looks like a children's book? Because there's an illustration of a dog on the cover? The word boy?

Nothing about that cover screams children's book imo - the style of illustration, the typeface, the colour - it's all very understated. It doesn't look like a Julia Donaldson book does it.

To kill a mockingbird is studied in schools

We will agree to differ! Not wanting to start an argument - i read it myself, then it was a school book for GCSE I think - so read it at about 14 in school.

Lots of classic books aren’t really adult books - they are aimed at teens and young adults.

i lived to kill a mocking bird - it’s recommended for age ten up. Don’t want to see it consigned to an adults only label because it’s not published by a children’s publisher!!!!

an obscure book no one has ever heard of

Waterstones' website describes it as a 'bestselling, award-winning' book so I don't think it's obscure, although of course that doesn't mean it's a household name book either.

Why do you think it looks like a children's book? Because there's an illustration of a dog on the cover? The word boy?

Nothing about that cover screams children's book imo - the style of illustration, the typeface, the colour - it's all very understated. It doesn't look like a Julia Donaldson book does it.

Not all children are under 5?

This is blurb from an Asian book site..

*Over the course of four main sections, the reader, too, comes to love the half-German-Shepherd, half- “native-Japanese-breed” Tamon. He’s a devoted dog—wise beyond expectation, receptive to subtle emotion. He is able to adapt quickly as a companion to a get-away driver for a band of criminals, a trail runner, and even a prostitute. (Despite the charming cartoon cover, this is a book intended for an adult audience.) He improves the life of each and every human companion he encounters. It isn’t unusual in English-language pet stories for some characters to meet untimely ends; there is quite a lot of suffering and death in The Boy and the Dog.
Also in the tradition of such classic “dog books” as John Grogan’s Marley and Me, schmaltz abounds. Honeyed sentiments are legion, all along the lines of what a reader likely expects. Speaking to Tamon, one character reflects,

It’s your dog magic, I suppose. Dogs don’t just make people smile. They give us love and courage, too, just from being at our side.*

Why do you think it looks like a children's book? Because there's an illustration of a dog on the cover? The word boy?

Nothing about that cover screams children's book imo - the style of illustration, the typeface, the colour - it's all very understated. It doesn't look like a Julia Donaldson book does it.

Teenagers don't want books with the Gruffalo or Peppa Pig on the cover! It's a challenging transitional time when they naturally want to start leaving 'kid' stuff behind but are not yet mature enough for adult-only themes.

Why should it?

Actually feel like getting it out of the Library now! :)

TBF, I read the first few volumes of Adrian Mole between ages 9 and 11, and that started when I picked up the first diary in our primary school library, and eventually got The Wilderness Years out of the adult library in town.

Waterstones have it categorised like this. (Compared to Boy in Stripped pyjamas).
Clearly....NOT a children's book.

The OP hasn't mentioned the age of their child

I googled it, To me it does look like a kid's book just going on cover design alone...But surely people buying online would read the blurb about it?

None of the blurb mentions the very active prostitute

Why should it?

Because that was relevant to the question asked

I’ve just looked on Waterstones and it sounds like it would be suitable for children and I can see how easily someone could buy it for a child

You beat me to it by posting the Waterstones synopsis, but reading that I can see exactly why some would believe it suitable for younger readers and even the cover lends to this

Admittedly bookshops may not have it in the kids' section, but that's not much use if buying online

@Stripedbag101 what I meant though is Mockingbird was never originally published as a "children's" book - but is established enough now to be known as ok for more mature children to read.
When it's a book you don't know so much you would surely check - who is the publisher, what section in the bookshop is it in etc before buying it.