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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to think that Spot books are just really really badly written?

150 replies

emkana · 04/05/2009 22:27

I have to make up my own words to them.

And don't even get me started on the Mr.Men books. Hate them.

And as for Thomas the Tank Engine... they make me lose the will to live.

OP posts:
lowrib · 05/05/2009 01:19

I love Spot, sorry. Especially the flaps!

Mr Men are boring though.

mumeeee · 05/05/2009 15:31

YABU. My children loved Mr Men and Spot when they were little.

WorzselMummage · 05/05/2009 15:33

That bloody Bear Hunt books makes me contemplate launching myself out of the bedroom window.

I hated it so much i but it in the bin.

WowOoo · 05/05/2009 15:38

My son and I both love/d Spot and Mr Men.

But am with you on Thomas.
We make it up and change the words/ voices to see if he's paying attention.

(hopefully he's not so i can stop!)

pinkstarfish · 05/05/2009 16:11

They can be a bit tedious, but a lot of them were written many moons ago! Charlie and Lola I find annoying...she said then I said then Marv said then I said and then charlie said.....arrrg

Sycamoretree · 05/05/2009 16:24

Mr Men - well, it was a shocking revelation to me and my DH just how shit they really are.

I had kept all mine from childhood. They had sat on DD's shelf until she was about 3. We dusted them off, she even got a poster with all of the on and put it by her bed....and then we started to read and by god they truly SUCK!

Worst of all, DD loves them and will ALWAYS request one. DH and I fight over who reads the MM book and who gets to read a chapter of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (she's nearly 4 now).

SPOT, ditto. Though we've never bought them. We just got given an annoying one with the sonic buttons.

Thomas...also double grrr. We got given a mini box set for DS when he was about 18 months. Tedium is not the word.

But I actually LOVE charlie and Lola Starfish!

Poshpaws · 05/05/2009 16:26

Thomas and the Hurricane - my Dss' favourite book, but I actually tell them 'No. Find something else for Mummy to read' as I loathe it so much!! And Bear Hunt!!!!

Oh, and if anyone has the misfortune to acquire any Brum books - bin without reading. Tedious bubbles with 'Way to go Brum', 'What ya gonna do Brum?' and 'Brum saved the day' thrown in the middle of a pointless storyline where Brum whirls his wheels and twirls his handle is too much .

branflake81 · 05/05/2009 16:32

Ooh I really like Mr Men - I find them quite fun to read.

GreatGooglyMoogly · 05/05/2009 16:32

Beatrix Potter is my pet hate - so violent!

nevergoogledragonbutter · 05/05/2009 17:31

yes, i had to skip the bit in one of the beatrix potters when the animals get a beating for being naughty.

hardly conducive to sleep.

mrsbabookaloo · 05/05/2009 17:35

I hide the Mr Men books at the back of the bookshelf...I can't put my finger on what exactly it is that makes them so boring to read..but they are like a form of torture.

Horton · 05/05/2009 19:25

Mr Men, Spot and Thomas are all awful.

YANBU at all.

Love Beatrix Potter, though.

MrsMellowdrummer · 05/05/2009 21:42

Anyone read Potter's Tale of the Fierce Bad Rabbit?

Brutal.

Noonki · 05/05/2009 21:52

unfortuately Mr men books are only allowed to be read by men (and there sure as hell isn't a little miss anyone in this here house)

so that's me off that one..

thomas books are surely a form of mental torture...

spot..only has pictures as far as my kids are aware....

and don't get me started on frigging Noddy zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

piscesmoon · 05/05/2009 21:57

I don't think it matters what you like as an adult-DCs have different taste and it is what they like that counts.
DS1 loved Thomas and much as I loathed them I always read them-he chose them at the library and we must have done the whole series (which is long). Luckily DS2 and3 didn't like them. They all loved Spot and the Mr Men.
I love Beatrix Potter but they weren't keen.
I like reading the Bear Hunt-I find that most DCs do.
We used the library a lot and they had a free choice. Sometimes they humoured me and let me read my favourites.

snowybun · 05/05/2009 22:27

Am I the only one who likes Thomas books.
Ds has mr Tickle which I don't mind reading at all. The only books I have hidden are 4 books he was given two were lift the flap bible story books and although the stories are fine(I am a christian) it's the amount of faps they had to open on each page took flipping ages to read.
The other two were just plain hideous one was about sharing and was wrote in the style of the two children talking with 'says molly' then 'says sarah' at the end of each sentence all the way through the book.

ILoveDolly · 05/05/2009 22:36

Oh we got some tomas books from the TV series. Never heard of the characters before but they were EVEN WORSE.

Hate Mr Men.Shame DD adores them!

We both love Julia Donaldson books though

sweetkitty · 05/05/2009 22:40

Hate Spot

MrMen not too bad, I tend to miss bits out and make up my own bits

Thomas boring

Give me a good old Julia Donaldson, I am liking the Princess and the Wizard at the mo

pollywobbledoodle · 05/05/2009 22:53

and spot is just so bratty....

edam · 05/05/2009 23:00

Snowybun - no, you aren't alone! I love the original Thomas stories. All based on real incidents... but then, my father drives steam engines for fun so I've had a lifetime of playing with real trains, possibly a slightly different perspective to most mothers.

(The one about the Old Lost Engine 'Duke' makes me cry as it's true - he was found, by Revd. Awdry, in his little engine shed which was hidden under a landslip when the railway was abandoned. Real engine, Prince, now restored and runs on the Ffestiniog Railway in N Wales ).

Horton · 05/05/2009 23:02

The Fierce Bad Rabbit is fab. Also Two Bad Mice and poor old Tom Kitten nearly getting eaten. I used to terrify (enjoyably, I promise) my much younger sister by rolling her up in a duvet and putting real butter and salt and pepper on her head before 'cooking' her in front of the stove. Happy memories.

Julia Donaldson is fab. We are really enjoying Tyrannosaurus Drip at the moment (except my bloodthirsty child can't see why they shouldn't eat the duck bill dinosaurs).

ILoveDolly · 05/05/2009 23:04

I got told off by DD for kicking a stick 'in case it's Stick Man'

mamadoc · 05/05/2009 23:43

Mr Men bad

Spot worse

but both works of literary genius compared to Peppa Pig!

and why has noone mentioned Beatrix Potter. The classic ones are fine Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle Duck (although that may be just familiarity) but MIL who likes to buy improving books for DD aged 2 has recently bought us 'The tale of the pie dish and the patty pan' neither DH nor I could understand the convoluted plot and it had DD shouting 'want go sleep now' by halfway through!

ja9 · 05/05/2009 23:45

agree wholeheartedly emkana!

hate spot books especially but mr men and ttte and drive me insane

mamadoc · 05/05/2009 23:46

Oh sorry loads of people have mentioned Potter I just didn't read page 2