Which toddler books do you loathe?

[LiverpoolMummy89]

I asked for books for DD2 for Christmas and got some lovely ones that she enjoys but there’s one I absolutely hate - Dear Zoo. I know it’s one of the more well known ones but the fact that the ungrateful little kid sends back all the animals back and gets a perfect puppy at the end grinds my gears 😂

Are there any other books to stay clear of? This is a light hearted thread btw

The Tiger that came for tea...he's so rude 🙈

Same here - I hate this range!!

I just don't get why he's playing an instrument with the words "goodbye" repeated over and over in at the end.

Like, are you meant to read the goodbye? Sing it? Ignore it?

Scarf is like a sss then a car then a fff

Laugh is laff

Little Rabbit Foofoo
Is a load of poopoo

The ‘Ten Minutes To Bed’ books, two year old absolutely loves them and recites the words to all of them. I’d like to never hear of any of them ever again. Some of them are particularly dreadful, Little Monster in particular!

Thank you for the recommendations everyone! I've made a list 😁

A favourite of mine at the moment is Here be Monsters by Jonathan Emmett. It's a bit dark at the end, not for sensitive souls but it's easy to read and a clever idea.

I hate Goodnight Moon. I hate the colour scheme of the bedroom, and the old lady and her bowl full of mush makes me feel sick.

The Foot Book - I like the book, but the rhyme on the last page has a completely different beat to the rhymes in the rest of the book, which annoys me.

Going on a Bear Hunt. I feel sorry for the bear. What were they planning on doing once they hunted him down?

I actually like Tiger who came to Tea.

Not Now Bernard is our family favourite.

Can’t stand Mr Men.

The Jolly Postman. There. I said it. 😇

It's a charming book and I want to give it my all every time it's requested, but oh my goodness... with the additional material (some of the pages are envelopes containing letters and a mini storybook) it seems to go on and on and on and on and... you get the picture. I like the concept, but the inclusion of the mini story book (which of course, I can't get out of reading) is the thing that breaks me.

OMG, yes to Daddy's face in Tiger!
(I have to say the line about 'I know what we'll do ... We'll put on our coats and go to a cafe' is also a family quote)

Scarf and giraffe don't rhyme in rhotic accents. (Tbh they don't even rhyme in my non-rhotic accent either because I say giraffe with a short a, even though I use a long a for bath (baahth) etc)
I'm fond of the Smartest Giant simply because when my teens were small we had an audiobook version in which the dog had a French accent - '...but I keep getting stuck in ze mud!' still gets used in our house when someone can't make something work)

That poor fox is being gaslit. That mouse knows where his socks are, look at her smug little smile in every picture. And he just gets more and more worried and she areas about

I said the same to my mother who informed me that The Tiger Who Came to Tea is meant to be an allegory of Nazi Germany or something!!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25027090.amp

Came here to say Dear Zoo just after reading the title of your post. I can't stand it!

@Q2C4 Judith Kerr said many times it wasn't about the Nazis.
Apparently it started life as a bedtime story that she and her children just kept making up as they were going alone.
That's probably why it's a bit silly ("all the water in the taps").

The fucking troll and his fucking goats. I actually don’t mind Julia Donaldson (and love Monkey Puzzle) but the troll is awful, as is tyrannosaurus drip and cave baby, where the parents are basically abusive.

The Peppa Pig books are awful. Utterly without any plot to speak of.

"Foot" and "soot" in my accent doesn't rhyme in Snail and the Whale.

I'm so glad it's not just me!

The Kipper books by Mick Inkpen. I don't know why but I really didn't like them. DD loved them though.

The Jolly Postman was one of my favourite books as a child (I loved teeny tiny things) but there is no way I'm giving it to my child until he's old enough to read independently and it will not be a bedtime story. It's better discovered anyway, I reckon, rather than shown?

@SunshineAndFizz I'm interested in how foot & soot are pronounced without rhyming. The way I say them, both rhyme with put.

For me, "soot" is pronounced more like "suit" with an "ooo" sound.

"Scarf" and "giraffe" also don't rhyme in my accent 😂

Soot and foot rhyme for me (London). Same with put.

The sodding Rainbow Fish is a neo-Communist, emotionally coercive plot. There, I said it!

Seriously, though, who thought that, "If you want people to like you, you have to give them any bit of your body that they fancy," was a good message for children (or anyone)?!

I laugh about it because I'm aware it potentially makes me sound a bit mad to be seriously cross about it, but...I get seriously cross about it.

It's been 'lost' in our house.