Children's Books get worse
 

http://www.bigtentbooks.com/index.as...ROD&ProdID=188

http://www.bigtentbooks.com/ProductI...ommy-cover.jpg
Coping with Mommy's Plastic Surgery!


I don't know about yours, but my mommy is beautiful the way she is.

Wow, just wow. That made me laugh, thats horrible XD

It's got a website!

Do you think she paid extra for that butterfly?

I think my Mommy is lovely just the way she is, too. But wow, what is this world coming to? 8D On the other hand though, I can kind of understand where the author is coming from- so kids won't feel like they don't know their mother (or father) anymore because they had some surgery done to where they look completely different. I can see how confusing that would be for a young child.

Mine should've seen a psychiatrist, not a plastic surgeon. :P

What's next? "Daddy gets a haircut"? I see the point of the book but really, it seems a little unecessary.

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Levar Burton: Yep That book is pretty bad kids, and you know what? There are plenty more examples of controversial children's literature out there at your local library or bookstore...but don't take my word for it.

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The Story of the Little Mole Who Knew It Was None of His Business

As Beavis would say: heh heh heh heh heh heh "poop" heh heh heh heh heh heh.

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Visiting Day

From Publishers Weekly:
This poignant picture book chronicles a joyful girl narrator's hard-to-bear anticipation and special preparations for a journey with her grandmother to see her father. Both text and artwork keep the destination a mystery, wisely focusing instead on the excitement of the upcoming reunion. As Woodson's (The Other Side) rhythmic prose, punctuated by the refrain ("only on visiting day"), builds a sense of expectation, Ransome (Satchel Paige), too, underscores the build-up. Wordless spreads depict Grandma fixing the narrator's hair and the pair climbing aboard the bus. Meanwhile, the girl imagines her father making his own preparations. Ransome portrays a handsome man in khaki shirt and slacks; a calendar on the wall marks the days to his daughter's visit, hanging next to her artwork accented with red hearts. Ultimately, "the bus pulls up in front of a big old building where, as Grandma puts it, Daddy is doing a little time." Ransome shows barbed-wire atop high walls and a guard tower in stern relief against a perfect blue sky. Throughout, he uses a radiant, rich, marine blue (the bus's accents, the girl's dress and a prison guard's uniform) to contrast freedom and captivity. Told completely from a child's perspective, the narrative makes no judgment about what Daddy did or why he's incarcerated. A shared feeling of hope and family togetherness pervades each spread, from Grandma cooking fried chicken in the morning for the bus ride, to the narrator sitting down with crayons when she gets home to make Daddy more pictures. Any child who has been separated from a loved one can identify with the feelings of this winning heroine.

Yay, lets go to prison....Yay, lets move on shall we.

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Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!

Book Description
This full-color illustrated book is a fun way for parents to teach young children the valuable lessons of conservatism. Written in simple text, readers can follow along with Tommy and Lou as they open a lemonade stand to earn money for a swing set. But when liberals start demanding that Tommy and Lou pay half their money in taxes, take down their picture of Jesus, and serve broccoli with every glass of lemonade, the young brothers experience the downside to living in Liberaland.

Yes, this book appears to be legit and while I think it may be some kind of wierd counter culture political satire, the fact that this was found in the children's section may have shoot down that claim and really that's all I can say without sounding too political about it. (Let me put on my MODhat for a moment) And I hope you all follow suit, talk about the lameness of a political propagnada book for kids, and not about which party is doing the propaganding, thanks.

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Walter the Farting Dog

From Publishers Weekly
Here's a companion to Taro Gomi's Everyone Poops, albeit with less educational value. Walter, a fat gray dog with an apologetic look on his face, comes home from the pound with two children. He has incurable gas, and his family decides to take him back. The night before he is to go, Walter sadly devours "the 25-pound bag of low-fart dog biscuits the vet had prescribed for him, which had made him fart more.... A gigantic gas bubble began to build inside him." Wouldn't you know, two burglars break in, and Walter's liability becomes his asset. Predictable stuff, but Kotzwinkle (Trouble in Bugland) and education writer Murray know their audience. Their simple strategy just keep saying "fart" should have children rolling in the aisles during read-aloud. Newcomer Colman likewise fixates on one visual gag, Walter with steam blasting out his backside. Unlike Babette Cole, whose Dr. Dog takes a mock-scientific approach to digestion, Colman specializes in reaction shots; in her surreal collages of photos and patterns, people hold their noses and a cat glances at the culprit. Yes, this lowbrow endeavor could be a crowd-pleaser but, like its topic, its disruptive effects will tend to linger.

The less said about this one the better.....

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Levar Burton: Wow that was great wasn't it? Well that's all the time we have today kids, see you next time.

Singers: Butterfly in the sky...I can go twice as high...take a look, it's in a book, a reading rainbow (reading rainbow)

Thanks to Amazon and Publishers Weekly for the synopsis' and cover art and thanks to Levar Burton, PBS and support of viewers like you for the inspiration for this gag.

Someone should give you a medal for posting this. Who knew that children's literature could be so dang funny? 8D ;D

Woooow, I agree! Lets give both T and Ridureyu medals! Wonderful finds! 8D

:) : You mean, like, theeeeeese?

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8D 8D 8D 8D 8D 8D

That was awesome! Thank you for that, T.

oh god what is this world coming to

Right now, with all the children's lit getting a terrible downgrade,
It has come to seeing Dr. Seuss right now doing backflips in his modest six-by-four grave

Exactly! Good Lord, I come back from DC and THIS is what I find?! Children's lit like THIS?!

WHAT'S GOING ON?!?!

<Sorry, had a ranting moment there...>

I'm also afraid there's some terrible news, WAKG17.

There's also books about two mommies and two diddies...and they're not one of each!

Well lookie what I found!


http://www.amazon.com/Controversial-...R2CIX4GT87K99O

"Manneken Pis: A Simple Story of a Boy Who Peed on a War"

Yeah, I don't know what the f**k.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with that. :macwor: Guess you do, though.

Yeah, I think it's maybe a bit unfair to accuse kids' books of getting worse if all they're doing is changing to reflect what's considered socially acceptable within our times and what does indeed constitute everyday reality for many kids (the reason why I don't have too big a problem with the plastic surgery book - true, it may seem a tad risible but, my own personal feelings upon cosmetic surgery aside, I'm sure that for many kids it's indeed an issue that needs explaining to them. It ultimately depends upon how well-written it is, I suppose).

I'm no fan of scatological or gross-out humour, but to be frank I think that there's always been something of a market for it in childrens' literature - because, let's face facts, humour that's scatological or gross-out or visceral in some way or another is what a lot of kiddies are into, after all. I'm pretty sure it's not just a recent thing. :P

Oh, I saw that book about the mole in my local Borders several months ago. I later noticed that some employee (or possibly customer) had tactfully attempted to cover up the front cover illustrtion by placing a smaller book in front of the offending area.

Agreed, but it is about the changing times we live in, and not wanting to turn this into a heavily moderated thread, the Uptight Moral Christian Brigade is outraged.

I am going to suggest in no uncertain terms that we move along. Now. :herriman:

May I ask then that this subject be closed?

There's nothing wrong with the original subject. Maybe you should just stop posting in this thread.

Thats up for the staff to decide:P

Yes, let's return to talking about Mommy's New Image.

I have a feeling these controversial books are approved solely on their sales potential. I read in some news article that "old-school" children's book authors (artists in particular) are getting pushed out of the evolving book retail market (high costs of printing in color and aggressive internet sellers leading to substandard profits).

So yeah, children's books are getting "worse", in terms of the common good of society and basic decency, but possibly "better", in terms of the publisher's quarterly earnings report.