Worst Books for Kids

[August Mom]

Whenever there is a best/worst type of post there is often disagreement and someone's favorite is another person's worst ever purchase. However, I wonder if that's true with books. I've received a lot of good book suggestions here, but what are the books to avoid?

[August Mom]

I'm sure I can come up with some more (I don't know how my mom chooses some of the books she does) but I think my top award goes to a collection by Margaret Wise Brown comprised of the following:

Love Song of Spring
Love Song of Summer
Love Song of Autumn
Love Song of Winter

I guess they are supposed to be poetic, but I think they make no sense and are hard to read. On the plus side, the illustrations are nice.

[starrynight]

"I'll love you forever," the authors name escapes me right now though. I used to think it was a sweet book but after a friend of mine pointed out there is something bizarre about a mom who sneaks into her kids house in the middle of the night after he has moved across town, it kinda ruined the book for me LOL. If you have never read it,it's about a mom who every night rocks her baby to bed and sings a song and through the book the child grows older and she still does it until at the end he is grown and moves away but she still drives across town to sneak in his house and rock him while he sleeps.

I can't think of any others right now but if I do I will edit this.

[himom]

These aren't horrible, but I hate the titles:

Walter the Farting Dog
The Day My Butt Went Psycho

I'm not too fond of the "_______ Celebrates _______" books that IMO just take up space and waste trees. You know -- Barney Celebrates Halloween, Barney Celebrates Christmas, Barney Celebrates Hannukah, Barney Celebrates Kwanzaa, Barney Celebrates Easter, Barney Celebrates Labor Day, etc. Substitute Clifford, Caillou, Scooby, Dora, Bob the Builder, the Teletubbies, etc for Barney and you get a lot of wasted paper and some very unimaginative (read: boring) stories. Some are quite good but most of them are just kind of there.

Jodi
Mom to Joshua Keoni, February 2003

Edited for really bad spelling!

[AngelaS]

This is by Robert Munsch and it is a bit odd. LOL On the other hand, he's written some GREAT and very funny books we LOVE! So far we don't own his "Nice People Don't" cause it's about a fart. If it were about a toot, we'd own it. :)

[AngelaS]

My personal opinon is that I like to avoid daddy or mommy bashing books. For example, all the Berenstain bears books are about a bumbling daddy who can't do anything right. We're working hard to teach our dds that mommies and daddies are people to be honored and looked up to, not made fun of.

I also really don't like the Arthur or Little Critter books because of the whining little sisters in the stories. I cannot stand to watch Arthur on tv, so why read about him?

I also agree on the "____ celebrates _____" books. What a waste of time and paper!

There are SO many GOOD classic books out there that I'm very picky about what I want to read! I'm also very conservative in my views on family relationships and how children should respond to adults that bratty kids in books make me CRAZY!

[Bethann31]

I really don't want to debate it, because quite frankly I find the whole sneaking across town thing odd as well, but I love this book, because to me it represents the power of a mom's love for her child. I look at it more metaphorically, rather than literally. A mother would drive across town, climb a ladder and crawl across a child's room, just to tell him how much she loves him. I find that so powerful and sweet. I really don't think that children think about the weirdness, just the fact that mommies really love their children, no matter what.


Beth
mom to 3 (13, 11 and 8) and then 1 more (06/04/03)

[Rachels]

LOL! This one creeps me out as well. I think the intentions are pure, but this mom only seems to realize the depth of her love when her child is sleeping. Unless he's unconscious, he drives her crazy and she talks about wanting to sell him to the zoo. I don't want to give Abigail the message that she's only overwhelmingly loved when she's snoozing.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[sntm]

my husband makes fun of this book for the same reason!!! it is weird but i still cried at the end.

we have a goodnight book that has some nice parts of it, but has several pages about dreaming of candy and cakes and sweets. i mean, PAGES. now, i don't expect Jack to dream of broccoli but do we have to emphasize candy that much? says mom who is inhaling the rest of the halloween candy (somebody stop me)!


shannon
not-even-pregnant-yet-overachiever
trying-to-conceive :)
PREGNANT! EDD 6/9/03
mama to Jack 6/6/03

[km]

I've never thrown away a book, but our copy of Love You Forever is filed way at the back of the top shelf of our closet. I found it creepy, disfunctional, etc. (a gift)

Also, I found the Midnight Kitchen quite odd (another gift).

While i would never buy a _ celebrates _ book, a child at daycare gave the Clifford's First Halloween book to all the other children in her class. While my 11 mo old doesnt care much (she was the intended recipient), my 2.5 year old had fun 'reading' it to us, showing us the pumpkins in the book, etc. Again, I wouldnt buy it, so many wonderful books out there, but its not hidden away like our Love You Forever book.

[kirstensmom]

Don't want this to become a love you forever bash but I'm glad I'm not the only one that finds this book odd and creepy. Unfortunately my mil gave it to my dh for xmas (before we had our dd) or I'd get rid of it.

can't think of any others right now

[Momof3Labs]

I do NOT like the Berenstein Bears books! When I used to babysit, the kids would ask for one of those at bedtime and they seemed to go on forever. They are just way too wordy and long, IMO. If you want wordy and long, there are probably much better books out there (we haven't started looking for them, though).

[Bethann31]

It is so strange how people see so many different things in books. Until I started reading this message board, I never ever thought of "I Love You Forever" as anything but a sweet tale about a mom's love for her children. Now, as I said before, I do find parts of it unsettling, but only because it was brought up here.

Maybe it's because I have 3 older children (all of whom have been read this book many times) but I know how the mom in the book feels. At least once a day, I feel like selling at least one of them to the zoo, but when they are all asleep and I look into their lovely faces and smell their hair (yes, even the 13 year old boy) I realize that I would throw myself in front of a train for them without a thought. That is how I look at this book.

I just realized that I sound like others don't feel that way about their children. That's not how I mean to sound at all. I know that each person here would stop a bullet for their child, I just don't take this book so literally.

By the way, when my DH met his biological mother after 30 years, she gave him this book. I thought that was so sweet, and a way to tell him that even though she did not raise him, he was still her son, and she would always love him.


Beth
mom to 3 (13, 11 and 8) and then 1 more (06/04/03)

[Rachels]

Gasp! What a great thing for his birth mother to do! That made me choke up.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[August Mom]

What in the world is "The Day My Butt Went Psycho" about? That has to be one of the worst titles ever. I'll definitely put that on the avoid list. LOL

[ddmarsh]

In general I am not a fan of the "new baby" books. I find that they seem to make an assumption that a child is going to feel jealous, etc. and it becomes a focus of the book. I just feel like they seem to say to a child "A NEW BABY IS COMING - FEEL JEALOUS, ANGRY AND RESENTFUL - LOOK OUT YOUR LIFE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!!!"

[lukkykatt]

Babar!!!! I got this for DS from the library because I remember loving it as a child. I had to make up half the story because I couldn't bring myself to read what was really going on. A hunter kills his mother, he runs away and meets an old woman who gives him whatever he wants, and then he marries his cousin. Ick.

[August Mom]

Here's another bad one that DS found today: Mom Mine! by Dawn Apperley. Unless you want to teach poor grammar, avoid this one. Here is the text:

Mom hot, Mom cold
Mom shy, Mom bold
Mom walk, Mom slide
Mom play, Mom hide
Mom moon, Mom sun
Mom hop, Mom run
Mom sky, Mom sea
Mom mine, Loves me!

There's a companion book called Dad Mine! We won't be checking that one out.

My worst illustration award goes to Swimsuit by Kit Allen. I could have illustrated this book and I cannot draw. It's essentially a stick figure on the beach accompanied by single words like "swimsuit," "sunscreen," "sun," "swim," etc.

Sometimes I think that I should write children's books. Based on some of the books I've seen, it doesn't look like it takes much to get one published.

[himom]

>What in the world is "The Day My Butt Went Psycho" about?
>That has to be one of the worst titles ever. I'll definitely
>put that on the avoid list. LOL

I didn't even try to read it. :)

The cover alone was enough for me to avoid it. Yes, I know, "don't judge a book yada yada yada." But when the cover has a big running butt on it I reserve my right not to even try to read it!

It's an intermediate fiction book, so it's out of Josh's scope for a while, but I'm hoping all the copies will be mulch by the time he reaches that stage!

Jodi
Mommy to Joshua, born February 2003

[audreywindsor]

Books that teach kids to use the word "fart" or about defecating in general. My children will not own "Walter the Farting Dog", nor "Everybody Poops" nor "Everybody Farts."

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I'm only 28! Growing up, we were NOT allowed to use the word "fart"-- it's so unseemly, and when I hear children use it today, I figure their parents haven't taught them any better. Why would I want my kids going around saying things like, "He farted!!!!" UGH!!!! I certainly hope they are not introduced to these books in school, either.

[sugarsnappea]

I am a huge Suess fan but, My Many Colorful Days is just plain weird. :)