to censor DD's books by ripping inappropriate pages out?!

[morningpaper]

Not the ones with people copulating, like in my biology textbooks of yore.

We have a children's compendium (very new) which contains the story of Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby.

Surely this is just a racist stereotype with possibly worrying racist undertones?

Am I being over-sensitive or should I snip-snip-snip?

YABU to rip up a book. I don't mind creased and bent books which are well loved and read lots but deliberate page tearing gets me cross.

No no no!!! Just don't read that one to her, if you don't like it! You can't start ripping books up! What sort of a message does that send to her?

YAB a wee bit U, you daft woman!!

I would snip it nicely with a craft knife

Obviously I would have to borrow a crafty-person's craft knife

She is reading it herself

If you snip, will they notice? Mine would. "Why have you taken this page out mummy"

TBH I grew up with Brer Rabbit and co, and gollies, and even my grandad whose politics were slightly to the right of Attila the Hun. I am not now a Daily Mail reading BNP card carrying fascist idiot.

YABU. Your children probably won't even notice.

Just don't read that one if you don't like it. Culturally Brer Rabbit has his place - even if it isn't a place we would happily accord him.

Censoring your child's books is not a Good THing. Your child is hardly going to join the Klu Klux Klan on the back of old Brer Rabbit are they?

I don't think she would notice a few carefully-snipped pages

She is reading it HERSELF so I can't skip it

There is a lot of casual racism in these 'ere parts ... I don't like the idea that she might think it's okay to call a black baby a tar baby

AI r BU?

Won't she get more out of it if you have a Sensible Conversation about culture and racism, how attitudes change etc?

Perhaps you could teach her that it's not the right way to behave and speak about people?

Let her read it and then discuss it with her.

MP, Sacrilege! Ripping stuff out of books?

How is she supposed to understand the world if it's completely sanitised for her? If she asks questions, answer them! Don't prevent her from forming her own conclusions. MOre importantly, don't damaged books by ripping bits out!

Sensible ocnversation, yes.

Mutilating books, no.

'Dd - whilst that story has a 'tar baby' in it you know that's a very old story which reflects how people spoke to one another then? It's not the sort of thing that we would feel a good idea to say to either to our friends or to people we don't know. We want those people to know that we aren't influenced by the colour of their skin but know and cherish them as individuals'

Job done.

Perhaps laugh at the book at how silly it is.

Personally I have no problem at all with ripping, cutting and scribbling over books. I like to make them my own.

In the days of old when they took YEARS to create then perhaps they can be considered works of art not to be interfered with, but these days they are not so sacred.

I remember reading this when very young (5 or 6 maybe?) and thinking it was about a man who was also a rabbit and a baby that was really made of tar. Clearly I missed all of the racist undertones!

There is only one book that I think is deserving of destruction and it's not this one. I'd leave it.

How old is dd though?

Hmmm ok then

I did chuck out the Little Black Sambo books though

I felt they went Too Far

The trouble is you don't want to ruin her innocence. If she has just read it as a story and you start getting all heavy with the "did you realise they were likening a tar baby to a black peron" type thing, you may introduce something to her that she hasn't really considered. Far better to see if she mentions anything about it, then tackle the issues. Does she have non-white friends at school? I remember my little brther coming home from school in a tizz one day saying "Johnny isn't like me is he" (this is an Indian friend. I asked him why, expecting "he's got a brown face", but instead he said "Well he's got two sisters".

dd is 6

Yep - Lanky's got it right methinks.

You could damage a book? What kind of person are you? Next it will be burning and there is only one way that can go...

Don't get it. Really don't. The anti-book-damaging thing. Can someone explain it to me? Is it a cult?

it was only as an adult that I realized what a tar baby was, or a golliwog, for that matter.

I wouldn't worry about it - they're pretty dreamy at that age.

Odd that it's in a modern book, though.

I think it is inappropriate in a modern book

hide the book if you must but don't rip it!
And what BoF said, use it as a discussion point, MIL has an old fmaily copy of Little Blakc Sambo that used to be DH's favourite book, I read it (with some censorship currently) for DD's and will use it to explain racism etc when they are older.

The thing is, if you start doen this line, where do you stop? The Merchant Of Venice?