AIBU to have serious concerns about a Julia Donaldson book?

[BabyNameHelpPls]

Specifically, Fox’s Socks.

The fuck is going on with this guy? He’s woken up at 10am, his clothes are all over the place—his hat is underneath the bathmat, and one of his socks on the head of a frankly disturbing Mr. Punch character in the attic… how much did Fox have to drink the previous night?!

Or, as I’m coming to wonder, how involved is the mouse in all this? She’s so unreadable: at first I thought she was just smug, passive-aggressively following him around and not helping to find any of these clothes in bizarre places.

But does she, in fact, have MH issues, possibly even dementia? She pauses halfway through to make a hat out of a rose, for god’s sake. Is Fox a carer for Mouse? Did he sleep through his alarm from sheer stress and exhaustion, to find she had woken up and distributed his belongings throughout the house? Or is this an abusive relationship and she’s gaslighting him into thinking he’s losing his mind?

AIBU to be very worried that this is not an example of healthy dynamics, regardless of character motivations, and damaging to my toddler’s perception of the world? Should I ban the book? Or is there a more nuanced and wholesome interpretation of the work that I’m missing? Any advice welcome.

Stickman makes me cry! Especially the tv programme. How weird am I?! 🤣

Halfway up the stairs is the stair where I sit; there isn't any other stair quite like it.
It's not at the bottom, it's not at the top, so this is the stair where I always stop.
Just saying
And I was told it was "As I was going up the stairs, I met a man who wasn't there” ....etc. But maybe that was my grammatically correct dad.
But heigh ho

Good grief, the worlds truly gone mad, we can’t just read a kids book anymore without trying to read things into it. Whatever you do OP, don’t read Enid Blyton

I’m more concerned about one of the ‘ Mog’ books. Mog alerts the family to a burglar and in the picture it shows the family, the police AND the burglar all smiling whilst enjoying a cuppa!!!

Perhaps the burglar is a reformed character. All thanks to the wonderful Mog!

10/10 comment, no notes 😂😂😂

I literally read this book 30 minutes ago. I have to say none of your thoughts ever entered my mind, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to read it again without crying of laughter 😂😂😂😂. You are so right, I have no idea why I hadn’t thought of any of it before 😂😂😂😂

This is honestly the best thread I have come across in a very long time. I am in tears. We have the whole set of these books and I’m never going to be able to read them again without thinking about this 😂

I’ve not had the chance to read the full thread so someone may have already said this, but in Scotland a ‘stair’ or the ‘stair’ is the communal stairs in flats, so it makes sense here.

In one of them fox is in the shed and it looks like he’s got an axe in the back!

Sounds like a typical day in my family 😂

I’m a little worried that neither me nor my six year old have ever actually questioned why Fox’s belongings were thusly distributed around the house now 🤣🤣🤣

Fox is a simpleton, but he’s also clearly employing weaponised incompetence. He’s hid or otherwise misplaced all his crap then whinges at a woman to find it for him.

I used to feel quite tearful at the end: “And they sang to the sea as they all set sail on the tail of the great blue humpback whale”. They all seemed so brave and adventurous. Hormones have a lot to answer for. My dc are adults now but I still remember it.

If you do large amounts if acid, you too could be a children's book writer OP.

I wonder if that's the same mole who keeps being pooed on by different animals.

I adore Julia Donaldson books! My son’s fave is room on the broom. My only issue with that is kids being introduced to witches and they’re always ugly! Why are they always ugly? And why is society obsessed with introducing witches and wizards to kids. At least she’s a kind witch giving all the animals a lift! My fave is the kindest giant in town. He really is a good man 😂 but I think she’s an incredible kids author.

Actually linguistically its perfectly correct. Stair should always be used in the singular and/or literary state. Plural if talking about multiple stairs or a set(s) of stairs.

'He bumped into her on the stair.' Or, 'while standing on the stair.'

vs

'She ran up the stairs.' 'She stood and looked up despairingly at dozens of stairs before her.'

Nomination for this thread to be moved to classics. I nearly spat out my tea, and my kids are teenagers now!

Amen. See also Stick Man. Rhyming 'scarf' with 'laugh'. Not for those of us with strong NW accents!

Unless you live in a haunted house, our resident ghost is at the bottom of our stairs...

Brilliant thread and just what I needed thanks @BabyNameHelpPls 😂

I don’t have children, but I’ll be searching for these books in the children’s section of my local library, I must read them all!

I used to read it to my son and I’d say “Open the F’ing box! Open the box!’ And he would giggle uncontrollably 🥰 ah happy days reading about a toxic household with animal instincts!

They are very funny books. Rabbits nap is crazy shit too.