Daughter's book...

[EachDubh]

I know I am reading to much into this and perhaps missing the celebrating difference and diversity here but.... I don't think I can read this book with the eyes of innocence anymore. 😂😂

Dd got her p1 bookbag (5 year old gifts of books etc in Scottish schools). The books ares elected, written especially for the book bag scheme and are lovely. But this book got me thinking.

Brenda is a sheep!
Page 1- these are sheep, pic of sheep.
Page 2- this is also a sheep, this sheep is called Brenda. Brenda has a nice wooly jumper, pic of wolf in wooly jumper.
Page 3- Brenda does all the things sheep do... Next page -.. Because Brenda is a sheep. Obviously lots of repetative languagebto help with reading.
It goes on to say the other aheep think Brenda is the best sheep, Brenda is planning to eat the sheep but they plan a special feast and Brenda doesn't eat them because they are her friends and kind.

My mind is telling the sheep to run away and stay safe, kindness won't always keep you safe, be kind but also be aware.

Am I mad?

[Aesopfable]

@DreadPirateLuna

Reminds me of Zootopia, which was all about predators and prey getting along. Cutsie message so long as you don't think too much about it. But what are the predators going to eat? And shouldn't the prey maintain some cautiousness for their own safety?

Wolves can't digest grass and Brenda will starve unless she gets a more substantial meal soon.

Fish biscuits (well that was the solution in Octonauts)

[Autumnblooms]

So the wolf wants to eat the sheep, so the morale of the story is be kind to those who want to hurt you to get them to want to be your friend?

I don’t get it???

[JellySlice]

@Autumnblooms

So the wolf wants to eat the sheep, so the morale of the story is be kind to those who want to hurt you to get them to want to be your friend?

I don’t get it???

Not exactly. The moral of the story appears to be: Be kind to those who want to hurt you so that they won't hurt you. For now.

Oh, and: We can learn from everybody. After all, wolves are even better at being sheep than sheep are.

[DidoLamenting]

@Autumnblooms

So the wolf wants to eat the sheep, so the morale of the story is be kind to those who want to hurt you to get them to want to be your friend?

I don’t get it???

I don't get it. I don't know what message the book is supposed to be sending.

If there is a trans slant to it then it's worse than the newt cartoon. In my view, it was transphobic as it assumed all salamders (?) had bad intent. Here the sheep know that the animal which looks nothing like a sheep does have bad intent.

Maybe it's supposed to be wider than trans issues- to a more general "don't judge by appearances" but it still makes little sense, given Brenda's bad intentions.

It would make sense if Brenda were a vegetarian wolf (yes, I know that in itself makes no sense) who had been ejected from the wolf- pack for being a wuss and turns to the sheep in desperation.

The sheep are initially scared and unwelcoming to Brenda but welcome her when she shows she means no harm by perhaps staving off an attack by the carnivorous wolf- pack who rejected her.

[Aesopfable]

I thought the message was ‘if a bad person (bully/abuser) scares you, then if you are nice enough to them they may chose not to hurt you’ or alternatively ‘if a stranger tell you they are nice then they are, even if someone told they weren’t and you should keep away’.

From an adult perspective with an eye to the transgender stuff then ‘transgender people are predators’ would seem to be the somewhat transphobic message?

[NewlyGranny]

The bow and arrow catching game is just the nastiest thing! It's a show of force disguised as fun, like an abuser play-fighting a weaker partner and insisting they are enjoying it despite the bruises and pleas to stop.

Gaslighting.

[EyesOpening]

The wolf does not, by the way look friendly.
Yes, I noticed that too.

Do you think the author had a subliminal message or was just writing a twist to an old story? I do think it should be looked at though, for the message it might be (inadvertently?) sending out

[Scarby9]

I don't think there is any trans slant.
It fits right into the subversion of fairy tale expectations genre of children's books.
The repetition in the text of 'Brenda is a sheep' is set alingside pictures of Brenda who is clearly not a sheep and children love knowing that and arguing back against the book.
How do you all feel about the 'I want my hat back' 'This is not my hat' trilogy? The words and pictures also run counter narratives in thise books, and again, children love the shock and the superior knowledge they feel they possess.

[Aesopfable]

@Scarby9

I don't think there is any trans slant.
It fits right into the subversion of fairy tale expectations genre of children's books.
The repetition in the text of 'Brenda is a sheep' is set alingside pictures of Brenda who is clearly not a sheep and children love knowing that and arguing back against the book.
How do you all feel about the 'I want my hat back' 'This is not my hat' trilogy? The words and pictures also run counter narratives in thise books, and again, children love the shock and the superior knowledge they feel they possess.

So you are saying kids know full well that a wolf dressing up as a sheep is not a sheep? That just because someone puts on a cloths to try and look like one of their group that is not enough to make them part of the group? That the predator is still dangerous and still going to harm them? So why did they feed the imposter grass?

[powershowerforanhour]

There is historical precedent to this type of storytelling - Isaiah 11:6 and 65:25

[JellySlice]

A Christian slant - turn the other cheek - interesting. But I disagree. It is not at all the same. The Messianic message is not that the hunter will deceive the prey, nor that the prey will buy the hunter's mercy through subservience and kindness. Rather, it is that the hunter's predatory nature will permanently change due to the influence of the Messiah, or that the permanent change to the hunter's predatory nature will bring the Messiah to the world. If anything, this book is a rather nasty distortion of turn the other cheek.

[ErrolTheDragon]

'Wolf in sheep's clothing' is itself biblical - Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves Matt 7:15

Per wiki: A wolf in sheep's clothing is an idiom of Biblical origin used to describe those playing a role contrary to their real character with whom contact is dangerous, particularly false teachers. Much later, the idiom has been applied by zoologists to varying kinds of predatory behaviour.

[MothsAreSadButterflies]

Perhaps Amazon reviews could warn parents about the message in this book.

[YetAnotherSpartacus]

Wolf in sheep's clothing' is itself biblical

I totally fucking missed that - both that the book is about a wolf in sheep's clothing as per the saying and that this is Biblical.

[ThatIsNotMyUsername]

Wasn’t it about goats and sheep? I went to very few Sunday school classes...

[ErrolTheDragon]

There are lots of ovine metaphors in the gospels and elsewhere in the bible. The lost sheep, the Lamb of God, the scapegoat... (I went to lots of Sunday school classes, did 'scripture exams' - I had a terribly misspent youth.)

[YetAnotherSpartacus]

Yeah, very Blake!

I was kindly asked to leave Sunday School :(

[DreadPirateLuna]

There are lots of ovine metaphors in the gospels and elsewhere in the bible.

Sheep were a pretty big deal in the ancient Middle East, something most people could relate to.

Became a problem for missionaries when they went to places that didn't have sheep, and they had to replace them with local animals. "Like a polar bear among seals" or "like a jaguar among llamas" etc.

[nepeta]

This is also the general message in many traditional fairy tales for girls: If you are modest enough, kind enough, silent enough, and obedient enough then the prince will come and rescue you and you will live happily ever after.

It is part of the social conditioning.

[ThatIsNotMyUsername]

I always had an issue with that type of story (and don’t get me started on the bible - prodigal son my backside). Also the fairytale that had dire warnings about doing x y or z (don’t stray off the path, don’t eat the gingerbread, don’t pick up the rubies...) You just knew the character would do exactly the one thing they were told not to (like naughty eve and the apple eh?). And rumplestiltskin was diddled (a deal’s a deal...).

I was a joy to teach in primary school...

[CharlieParley]

The wolf and the seven young goats is another Grimm's fairy tale featuring a wolf pretending to something he is not to fool innocents into letting him in.

The young goats have been instructed not to let a stranger into the house by their mother. As long as the young goats recognise the wolf for what he is, they dutifully do not open the door. But once he has successfully disguised his voice and appearance, they are fooled. They let him in, he eats six of the little goats. The littlest one escapes and tells mum, who then rescues her children and kills the wolf.

I loved that story as a kid, because it features a strong mother, showed children being good, championed the young and punished the greedy, duplicitous wolf.

Regardless of whether this story has any connection at all to transgender ideology of acceptance without exception, like DidoLamenting I'm simply not getting the message here.

Ignore your instincts?
Deny your nature?
Embrace evil*?

(*Obviously, the wolf is not evil. Despite its bad rap in countless stories, it is no more dangerous to us than dogs. And yet, its man eater reputation as well as the real damage it does to livestock meant we hunted it to near extinction before we understood its pivotal role as an important apex predator whose absence in today's eco systems causes enormous damage. And whose re-introduction, especially in Yellowstone Park has brought immense benefits to ecosystems.)

So, back to the book - I don't get it. What is the author trying to tell our kids? I've never read a book to my kids where I didn't know the answer to that question. There are brilliant modern fairy tales out there for five year olds with truly worthy messages. But what is the message here?

[Knackered80]

Teaching children to ignore their instincts and to be ‘kind’ even when they feel uncomfortable. This encourages grooming, my child will not be reading this book.

[KittenKong]

As Brenda been chopped up by the little red riding hoods woodsman yet?

[DdraigGoch]

Whoever buys that book should not take a job as a shepherd.

[prudencepuffin]

You`re better off reading Jemima Puddleduck. At least Beatrix Potter understood that foxy gentleman are more interested in a recipe for stuffing when they seduce ducks, no nonsense about being kind and making friends. Nature always has a little reality in there somewhere.