bad books
Going through my niece's bookshelves this weekend, I was reminded of the books that I hated most as a child. For example:
The Giving Tree: Couldn't the tree have at least dropped one of its branches directly on the head of that greedy and ungrateful boy?
The Madeline books: How monstrously unfair to ignore all the other little girls in those two straight lines. Why did Madeline get to have all the adventures, while the others (as I recall) didn't even have names?
Charlotte's Web: Talk about pearls before swine. Charlotte completely wasted her considerable talents on a none-too-bright pig. And whatever possessed Fern to hook up with that loser rube Henry?
Stuart Little: Even at the age of six, I knew that a woman giving birth to a mouse was not only physiologically improbable, but also really, really gross.
So, what are some of your least favorite children's books?
24 comments:
I am with you all the way on the Giving Tree.
I can't remember my childhood opinions, but as a grown-up I consider Green Eggs and Ham to be cleverly disguised antisemitism: IT ISN'T KOSHER Sam I Am. (In addition to teaching tots the value of the nag factor--now that's a redeeming feature.)
Babar has not stood the test of time, either.
Oh, I remembered just as I saved that last comment: I recently learned that Shel Silverstein wrote the lyrics to "A Boy Named Sue," so it's possible that the whole gender politics of The Giving Tree is actually a huge private joke on Silverstein's part.
Little House on the Prairie makes me want to gouge my eyes out. Laura Ingalls, give me back my youth!
Cat in the Hat: how stupid were those kids? Everybody knows if you want a cat to leave you alone you hose it down with water.
I hate the Little Mermaid fairytale. It presents an ideal woman-- mute, who sacrifices her voice for a man (an easily deceived and not too bright man, at that), takes her suffering quietly and gladly, and eventually gives her life so he may live happily ever after with the lying bitch who deceived him. Nice. Just the message I want to give my daughter.
And I have strong allergies to all things Disney (Pixar excluded).
All of these are my adult perceptions, though. I don't remember disliking any books as a kid, but my entire bookshelf was in a different language :).
Julia: Strangely, The Little Mermaid was one of my absolute favorite stories as a child. I agree that its message is not exactly inspiring.
But I loved the language of the version I read. When the little mermaid got her legs, the book described each step as "like walking on glass," which sent shivers down my spine. Also, I was a sucker for a tragic ending, which no doubt played into it.
S.: Oooh GE & H. Another book I hated with a passion. And don't you think the Grinch is kind of anti-semitic as well? Or maybe that's obvious, though I certainly didn't pick up on it as a kid.
Oooh! the rainbow fish. Noone likes you, so you should disfigure yourself to buy their affection!
Amanda
My folks didn't read to us nor do I remember any childhood books in the house unfortunately. However, I have read most of the books everyone has commented on and many not commented on like "Thomas the Tank Engine" or "Curious George". Then there was those bear books - Bernstien Bears? I think I have read every Little Golden Book made 500 times and they are still here in the basement. Mother Goose stories crack me up too and my son use to love to read those crazy Goosebump books. I think he liked the thrill of being scared. Those were the days...
Yes, I HATE the Giving Tree as well.
I also hate the Giving Tree (and the Rainbow Fish). And that Robert Munch's "I'll Love you Forever" is a little creepy, too.
But I always liked Madeleine--I had romantic visions of living in Paris.
Before we all get too caught up in the slamming of GE & H, or any other Suess book, let's all remember that Theodore Geisel was very political, and opposed the Nazis and Hitler, and racism throughout his life. He wrote Horton Hears a Who as a tribute to the victims of Hiroshima, to teach children.
If you don't like his books because you just don't like them, fine, but please don't call him anti-semitic, even as a joke. Unfair, IMO.
Susan, you probably don't know this, but Robert Munsch wrote Love you Forever as a tribute to his two stillborn babies. He wrote the book, but beyond the dedication in the front and a few sketchy mentions in the press, never spoke about it. (Niobe, I think you might have something in common with this guy.)
I can't stand Disney books myself. Pixar is okay, but Disney? Dumbed down to the nth degree.
Niobe, yes-- that line is very poetic and evocative. It sent shivers up my spine as well, even as an adult. As a kid and a romantically inclined teenager, I found the notion of a tragic end very compelling. And I didn't develop my current point of view until I encountered the story when Monkey was about 4. But man, did I get upset then. I took care to get rid of the book on tape version and the printed one forthwith. When she is older, I think I will bring it up and we will talk about identity, sacrifice, worthiness, and voice. For now, the story is not welcome in my house.
Sorry, Aurelia. I should have chosen my words a little more carefully.
I didn't like GE&H because I just didn't like it. But, even if it was not the author's intent at all, the Grinch disturbed me, because the plot centers around how everyone celebrates Christmas except one evil character.
This says nothing whatsoever about the beliefs or politics of Theodore Geisel. But you can see how such a book might be difficult for a Jewish child or adult to read, even if the story is open to other interpretations.
Fox in Socks, on the other hand, was one of my favorite books.
Odd...that image of the Little Mermaid's pain has always stuck with me too.
Couldn't stand Curious George & always wanted him to just haul off and bite the Man in the Yellow Hat. He was just one very annoying monkey.
-Suz
Aurelia, I know that Seuss was politically active in many ways I admire, but that doesn't mean he didn't buy into his time in other ways, as the most cursory look at boys and girls in his books reveals.
I stand by my assessment of GE& H. It may not have been conscious, but you can't get away from the central premise of the book, which is that someone who doesn't want to eat a dish is hassled into eating it, and that dish includes the food item most popularly associated with the proscriptions of keeping kosher.
There has been at least one reading of The Cat in the Hat as an indictment of absent mothers. But I still think that book is rather brilliant.
i didn't know about the s/b connection to "love you forever" but i still find it creepy as a (living) children's book. personally, i hate "goodnight, moon" - so inane, so popular as a gift, so many unread copies stacked up in my library closet. what a waste of paper.
I have to admit that I retain great fondness for most of my favorite children's books. I may see them differently now as an adult, but I still remember how much pleasure they gave me as a child. I was a pretty sappy, sentimental kid... I guess I still am.
I will say the one book that stands out for me as one that both simultaneously haunted and fascinated me was "Edith the Lonely Doll."
I completely agree about "Edith the Lonely Doll."
There was something creepy about it, yet I kept taking it out and paging through it. It's funny, I've never heard anyone else mention that book before.
I hated Little Women. Don't remember why.
Bob Munsch is my hero.
Green eggs and ham is a real food, guys! The mother of a childhood friend of mine used to make it. Dr. Seuss was a really nice man, I corresponded with him a bit after my grade school class wrote to him for his 80th birthday. I wish I'd thought to ask him about the Grinch, because it is being used now in this crazy war against Christmas crap. But as a six to eight year old child it didn't occur to me. And I don't remember anyone ever in my life equating the Grinch with Jews, until now. I was just infatuated with the Lorax and Fox in Socks.
I hated Little Women as well.
And honestly Goodnight Moon annoyed me, although my niece loves it now and I like reading it to her.
I am so bummed about The Giving Tree - I read it endlessly as a child and just cried and cried. I remembered it so fondly that I gave it as a gift when my girlfriends had their twins. Then I read it again and was completely horrified, and wanted to take it back from them immediately.
The ending is the worst - "Oh, I'm nothing but a stump, just sit on me, why don't you?"
The creepiness of Munsch's "Love You Forever" is infinitely redeemed by the kick-assitude of his "Paper Bag Princess", which I'm so happy that my son loves. Unless it's a different Bob Munsch, in which case, hate on.
Goodnight Moon is actually completely sly and evil. If you look at the clocks, you'll notice that they advance 10 minutes every time you return to a colored page. So nearly an hour goes between bedtime and sleep!
Wow, uhm ... I hate to accuse so many people of missing the point, but I love THE GIVING TREE. It makes me think of my grandmothers, and what a selfish little pig I was to both of them.
I don't think we're supposed to think that what happens in that book is okay, or the right way to live, but it certainly is an accurate depiction of how boys (young boys and old boys) treat the women in their lives.
Me, I hate ANGELINA.
Pengo: you certainly could be right about the Giving Tree -- that it shows an exploitative relationship that we're supposed to condemn.
The difficulty is (and I think the reason so many people dislike the book) that the text itself doesn't give a hint that we should disapprove of what happens. Even the title suggests that what the tree is doing is good. It's not called, for example, "The Selfish Boy."
Your interpretation would certainly make much more sense. It's just hard to see how the book itself pushes the reader toward that view.
I was thinking of writing a sequel: Revenge of the Giving Tree: This Time It's Personal.
I always HATED "Stuart Little" too. Even at 7, the whole idea of a woman giving birth to a mouse just made me sick.
Otherwise, I couldn't get through "Alice In Wonderland" -- not sure why. Oddly enough, in our family we were divided: my dad and I hated it, my mother and brother loved it. Yet as an adult I'm the one that loves magic realism and fantasy. Go figure.
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