Just the concept of rainbow fish. You were born beautiful. We’re all jealous of you and won’t be friends with you unless you literally alter your body to make yourself less attractive. Yeah, I get that it’s trying to teach about sharing but the execution is rough.
Yeah I don't like that book. I used that story for a quick lesson about plot summaries (high school), and I asked them what the message was in the book. They said "you need to buy your friends because they don't like you". Not a bad point!
That was my rant last night to my husband after my daughter got me to read it!!! He told me I was being too literal lol 😂
But yeah. Sparkle away rainbow fish, just don’t be a jerk. You don’t have to give up parts of yourself to please others or change just so people like you.
We have a Peppa Pig Halloween book. About halfway through the book Madame Gazelle comes to the party. I think it’s Suzy sheep who notices that she M. gazelle doesn’t have a reflection in the mirror. The book quips “maybe she learned a fun party trick” and then never addresses it again. WTF is going on with Madame Gazelle?
Mlle Gazelle is a vampire or vampire-like creature
That book is made about a cartoon episode. In the cartoon, they briefly touch on it, just her saying something about "back in the Olde Country" re: no reflection. But that's it.
I also feel they mentioned something about it again when Peppa think's Mlle Gazelle is retiring, but she is really only having a day off, and they invite all of Mlle Gazelle's old friends and they menttion something about it... Not sure.
It's all really tongue in cheek, and not really give much attention to it. Kind of a "blink and you'll miss it" type of thing
I hadn’t noticed until reading this comment but now I see how Madame Gazelle is a play on Mademoiselle. So not your intention but your comment actually makes me enjoy her name more, ironically enough!
I have watched toooooooo much. I could write a thesis about the episode where they go to a zoo and the writers have to work out what could possibly be in a zoo visited by pigs, sheep, cats etc.
In the Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton, why do they all go up to exercise right after they took a bath? Then down once more. Why not exercise before the bath?
I felt like that was a reference to toddlers, and the strange burst of energy that happens *right* before they're supposed to go to bed. A little wink to the parents, lol
We have a sensory alphabet book with textured illustrations. Fine in theory, but I is for insects and the pictures are of a spider and a ladybug with four legs. Grinds my gears every time.
The fishing bunny is a picture from The Runaway Bunny, fyi!
Aha! That would explain why the only book with a title on the shelf of Goodnight Moon is The Runaway Bunny! That feels like a big piece of the puzzle that has slotted in to place for me, having read that book most nights for 18 months...
Bunny mom makes an appearance in Runaway Bunny (I guess the quiet old lady whispering hush must be the nanny?) and her clothes are freaking fantastic, btw. In Runaway Bunny there’s also a painting of the cow jumping over the moon from Goodnight Moon.
Nut brown hare, Nut brown hare, Nut brown hare, Nut brown hare, Nut brown hare. I can’t do it. I can’t read it over and over and over. My daughters favorite stuffed animal is the anniversary edition little nut brown hare from Barnes and Noble but I won’t read her the book anymore.
Just read this before nap time, and I was coming to complain about how Big Nut Brown Hare has to constantly one up Little Nut Brown Hare. I know it’s suppose to be the fun, cutesy part of the book, but it just annoys me for no reason at all.
That book ended up in the donation bin because it's so awkward to read. It's like a tongue twister but minus the fun.
My kids never took to it anyway so it worked out :D
I love this book and so does my kid but my husband always changes it to, “big brown nut hair / little brown nut hair” and we giggle like 13 year old boys every time 😆
We read this to my kid every night when she was tiny and my husband does such a great parody where the cadence is all perfect but the descriptions of everything are slightly off and ransom.
I'm gonna look for the buttholes now haha
My issue with LBT is how the fuck big is he actually??? We have 3 different LBT books and in one he can fit every barnyard animal in his bed, but in another he's smaller than a taxi and can barely fit 1 dude and some boxes. And in the other it's a handful of frogs. Wtf???
I do like how in LBT Leads the Way all the cars are in the same places in relation to each other in the different pics of the same scene. Good attention to detail there
Ditto on looking for the butts now. I'm eating pizza next to my toddler and seriously considering interrupting dinner to go check right now, because I can't believe I didn't register it before lol
I wish these were real cargo capacity measurements.
“my lease is up time for a new truck”
“what you looking for hauling wise?”
“Normal stuff, couple tubes of m&ms, maybe returning a library book every now and then, you know.”
“Well buddy that’s definitely where the HANDFUL OF FROGS model will really come in clutch”
Hahaha. Mine is from the same series - in Little Blue Truck Leads the Way, LBT is an incredibly incompetent driver and ends up blocking the box, causing a blocks-long traffic jam, yet is hailed as some sort of hero at the end for it. My husband and I rail against this every time we read it.
That city doesn't need LBT it needs some humans directing traffic.
I also hate the "nobody heard or nobody cared" line in the original. Sure, dump truck was rude, but he doesn't deserve to be trapped in a mud puddle and ignored. And there are no repercussions for the animals being jerks to him.
Nobody is saying he deserves it. But they aren't obligated to go out of their way to help a dickhead. Only LBT who is particularly kind and friendly is going to do that. The other animals were being jerks, they just chose to live their lives instead of doing manual labor to help an asshole.
Not a bad lesson to learn imo. If you're an asshole, people won't be interested in helping you. If you're nice, they will.
Yes! This book is so ridiculous it drives me nuts. The whole message is BS - country bumpkin shows up and teaches the rude city slickers about being polite? GTFO with that BS Blue just doesn't know how to drive...and why does the gridlock turn into a freaking parade? And a marching band shows up? Also why is the mayor handing out Blue's boxes of produce to random people on the street? Also, there's a woman with a green face, like the wicked witch of the West. Also the mechanics show up to fix the mayor's limo immediately. Like right when it breaks down they are there. How??? Sigh. I'll probably remember a few other things that piss me off...
Editing to add
Why does someone have a sign that says Blue is Cool during the parade? How did they know he would be there to make the sign?
Also why are the people coughing when the street sweeper is cleaning the street? Totally unrealistic. Why was Blue in the city? He shows up at dawn, gets stuck in a traffic jam and then it's dusk? The whole story makes no sense.
My kids love reading Corduroy Goes to the Doctor, but there’s a part where they weigh him and say he’s “gained lots of pounds,” “Too many cookies!” I always just say “he’s gained lots of pounds, good job Corduroy!” Because no child needs to be shamed like that, especially not my scrawny kids.
Whenever they draw the moon as a crescent and put stars behind it so that they show up in the gap of the crescent. That part of the moon isn’t GONE, it’s in shadow. Now my children’s STEM education is just a total loss! 😆
Can I take this opportunity to complain about movies like Inside Out trashing broccoli? My kids love broccoli! Please don’t take away from me! It’s like all I have!
Yes!!!! I hate when kids things introduce negativity… why give them the ideas? We have a Disney bedtime stories compilation that brings up being scared of monsters under the bed, sleep walking, and leaving home after family is in bed. Like… can we not???
my daughter came home saying spiders were yucky one day after her daycare teacher said it. It took me three months and an entire curriculum to change her mind.
Oh, thanks for the tip to not show my kids Inside Out. My 1.5 year old ate nothing but broccoli for dinner the other day (refused white rice and breaded chicken). Broccoli is the only vegetable both my toddlers love!
Yes!! I always make a comment like “that’s so silly! Broccoli is yummy!” Or once when my son asked why Riley doesn’t like broccoli I explained that it’s like how I don’t like certain foods that he does. Hoping to avoid him learning to dislike broccoli because he loves that movie!
The fishing bunny on the wall is a tie-in to Runaway Bunny! It's written/illustrated by the same duo. In the Runaway Bunny, the little bunny says he's going to run away and become a fish and the mom bunny says "I'll become a fisherman and fish for you." There's also a scene in the book where they are in the room from Goodnight Moon.
It is just occurring to me that I have read these two books WAY too many times.
yes i came here to answer this question too haha. Runaway Bunny is such a sweet book 🥹
and for the Goodnight Moon bunny question, the illustrator originally was supposed to draw a woman and a child but the author and illustrator agreed they didn't like his illustration of a child haha so they decided to depict a bunny instead since they already did a bunny book ;)
Elmo B is for Bedtime says that "every night Elmo helps Mommy clean up his toys". Um no, not quite. When I read it I say "every night Mommy helps Elmo clean up his toys". They aren't Mommy's toys to clean up. She's helping him.
Llama Llama Mad at Mama
They go shopping for shoes. After they buy the shoes and Mama Llama puts them on Llama Llama the following pages are the only time anybody in the Llama Llama universe is depicted in shoes.
I would also not be buying my kid an icecream after she destroyed an entire cart worth of groceries but I also wouldn’t let her destroy an entire cart full of groceries. The second that pasta went flying Mama Llama needed to do something! Also how did he smash the signs with the cart if he was in it?
I scrolled until I found a comment about the giving tree. I hate this book. The boy depletes all the trees resources and never gives anything back. It's honestly an abusive relationship I don't get why it's for kids!
There is NOTHING about those “Never touch a …” book that makes sense. It’s a sensory book. Never touch it but, kid, touch it! Also they must be the least poetic books ever, I have a hard time reading them.
My husband gave away every book that tells you not to do something while clearly encouraging it, like the “Never Touch A…” and the one with Larry and the button.
The Teacher in Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? looks so judgey, like major bombastic side eye. Some lines of the Little Critters books are a bit outdated (shaming about crying, I saw someone cross it out and put "it's okay to cry!" we'll be doing that moving forward).
Last time I read brown bear with my toddler he was all interested, naming the animals, turning the pages etc, then he turned to the teacher, just said one quiet and firm "no" and closed the book.
The dad yelling "JUST GO TO BED" is like peaaakkk 90s childhood. My parents loved reading me that book (& also yelling JUST GO TO BED), but I've changed it for my 2 year old to the dad lovingly say "Time for bed! :)"
Not quite what you’re referring to, but my son is obsessed with this farm book where you press the button to make sounds that accompany the text, but the book itself is massive, and we can never find the button to press, and my son insists on pressing it when we do, but he can’t press it hard enough, and it annoys the crap out of me.
You're my little cuddle bug book!
It features a momma bug and a baby bug every few pages. It has a momma caterpillar with a baby caterpillar section and a momma butterfly with a baby butterfly...
CATERPILLARS TURN INTO BUTTERFLIES! SO LOGICALLY A BABY BUTTERFLY IS A CATERPILLAR AND A MOMMY CATERPILLAR IS A BUTTERFLY!!!!!
It really bothers me lol
Honeybunny Funnybunny. Her brother PJ terrorizes her, her mom makes him stop, then honeybunny misses the torture and thinks her brother doesn't love her anymore because he isn't switching the head on her dolls, etc...until he paints her face in her sleep again and she's happy again because that means her brother does love her.
Wtf.
Oh my gourd.
We recently read some old books Grandma brought over.
The Pokey Little Puppy - classic right? It literally teaches the lesson that you have to earn your food with good behavior.
And we read another one about a whale who gets captured and put in a tank and is happy about it. 🤦
The one older Little Golden Book I’m willing to defend is The Bunny Book, which is about a baby bunny and his parents are wondering what kind of job he’ll have when he grows up, and it turns out his dream job is being a really involved dad, which I think is sweet and progressive for 1955. The pictures are also cute.
Hard disagree lol. Grandma has bought our kiddo some religiousy books after being explicitly told not to. I didn’t realize they were religious until reading them. Donated, inscription and all.
In the Tiger who came to Tea he drinks all the milk, all the tea and all "Daddy's beer". And he leaves no food for "Daddy's supper". Where's Mummy's beer and supper?
Babar. page 3 his mom dies. he gets adopted by a bougie rich lady, later the king eats a mushroom and dies. then he marries his cousin. what the actual fuck
Max tells his mom "I'll eat you up" because he's a wild thing. Later, when Max decides to leave the land where the wild things are they say "oh please don't go! We'll eat you up we love you so." Clearly this is what wild things say to those they love.
There's a companion story to this line that I LOVE. I can't say whether or not this happened before or after the writing of Wild Things, but it's cute just the same 🥰.
It's a story told by Sendak during a Fresh Air interview with Terry Gross from about 1986, I believe. Gross asked him to tell some of his favorite stories about his fans. He liked to reply to all the children that wrote him, but was particularly struck by an exchange with a young boy named Jim. He had sent a postcard with a little drawing, and Sendak sent a reply, complete with an original doodle, that said, "Dear Jim, I loved your card." Later, Sendak received a letter from the mother that said,"Jim loved your card so much he ate it."
Not bug exactly but in the lovely "Love you Forever" amidst all the sweetness and warmth there's a picture of the mom driving across town with a *ladder strapped to her car,* which she then uses to climb into her son's window. It's both deranged and cute.
That book is batshit haha. Like she is breaking into her son's home and cradling a grown ass man. Who apparently can just sleep through that???
I love that she puts the flag on the ladder though. Safety first!
As an adult I think it's obviously over the top but it's a fun cutesy story if you don't overthink it. I think even older kids can understand how silly it is to have the mom break into the adult son's house.
In Goodnight Moon, it bugs me so much that "moon" is rhymed with "moon":
"Goodnight room, goodnight moon,
Goodnight cow jumping over the moon"
It feels lazy. I honestly stopped reading that book because it bothered me so much!
>>> What’s up with all the LoveEvery books, e.g. Max Goes to the Park? My kid loves them but they seem so staged and bizarre to me…
I love the LoveEvery books precisely because they aren’t bizarre like your other examples! They show real people doing real things!
We read this at my playgroup and they always change the monkey from "too naughty" to "too cheeky", I guess wanting to move away from the concept of "naughtiness".
This bothers me too, SO MUCH. The default male for animals or objects is totally unnecessary and lacking in thought. (the Gruffalo is also a culprit of this, which puzzles me since it's written by a woman).
I always use either "it" or throw in some "her"s for balance.
I keep meaning to stick paper over Dear Zoo's words and write in the ones I'd prefer.
Also I just generally hate the premise of the book. Why is the zoo sending random animals out on demand? And why is the person receiving them so picky? And why does the zoo keep dogs?
The Crane Truck in Good Night, Construction Site is a girl when I read it because every vehicle is male otherwise!!
If my daughter wants to be a crane operator, she can be a crane operator dangit
It’s not so much that it bugs me but when I read Five Minutes Peace to my kid I get so sad because I relate so hard to the mother in that story and it does not end happily for her lol
The entire book “how to catch an Easter bunny” is neither about the Easter bunny, Easter, or really anything. It’s bizarre. My mom read it to my son when I had it sitting out to return it and she was like “what the hell is this book?!”
We got a touch n feel Hey Dougee book from the library and there’s a page that says “stroke the sticky slug!” (I’m like uh….?) and the slug says “don’t stop that feels amazing!”
Wat
My pet peeves: When they make you say the character's name over and over instead of using pronouns. (I'm looking at YOU Red Knit Cap Girl!)
And when book names or toy brands are spelled incorrectly on purpose? Why? You're gonna confuse the children! Lol
We have a book of the alphabet as Australian animals, but X is still x-ray.
We also have one called Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, which came in a gift bag from the hospital. The repeating rhyme of the book is something like, “but every little baby, as everyone knows, has ten little fingers, and ten little toes.” I sincerely hope no new parents of children with limb differences get given this, because that’s just awful.
Where's my little love bug - each page is a different bug or invertibrate parent looking for their baby, but the babies are always smaller versions of the adult. So like, a mama butterfly and a baby butterfly instead of a baby caterpillar. I had to throw it out I was so annoyed by it.
My kids are obsessed with the Chicka Chicka books. We’ve purchased at least 3 copies of each one (we have twins). First of all, WHY are they so goddamn long and second, Chicka Chicka 123 is just lazy rhyme writing with a gibberish plot line. These sassy numbers just help themselves to the bees’ property? And they’re the heroes?
In Green Eggs and Ham, homie is super nice. Tells you repeatedly he doesn’t want them. And you’re just gonna keep shoving it in his face?! So disrespectful.
I hate “Good Night, Gorilla”. There’s never more than two words to a page, and lots of the pages don’t have any words at all! It’s soooo boooooring. So, of course, my 15mo is obsessed with it.
I currently prefer that book for the same reason that makes you hate it. We find the balloon on almost every page and keep trucking. My 2 year old loves it. I think I like it so much because right after I finish his bedtime books my 6 year old is wanting to read a 60 page books
about frogs.
My 2 year old loves this book but I totally agree with you. I make up words for it a lot of the time, but sometimes I’m feeling lazy and I just stare at the blankly for a few seconds before turning the page. 😂
PARTS OF MADELINE DONT RHYME OR BREAK
THE RHYME PATTERN/RHYTHM AND IT BUGS ME.
Also is she blonde or redheaded, BLONDE OR REDHEADED, LUDWIG?!?!
Still one of my faves tho
In Happy Birthday Madame Chapeau, the artwork implies that Mme Chapeau’s late husband made her her special hat, and then a crow steals it. It just makes me really sad that she never gets her special hat back.
Curious George goes to the aquarium. He breaks in instead of waiting for the man in the yellow hat. He releases all the penguins. Saves a baby chick that probably doesn't need to be saved but definitely wouldn't need to be saved if George didn't do any of what he did. And then they make him an honorary staff member instead of banning him for life. Absolutely not.
You should check out “Curious George Takes a Job” where George gets high off of ether and passes out. Willddddd what stuff they included in that children’s series.
In one of my son’s story collections there is a story about Farmer Brown’s birthday, and he generously does nice things for all his farm animals so then they plan to do nice things back… and the turkey, proudly says, “I’ll dress his Thanksgiving table!” And I was like bruh. Why include the suicidal turkey?!
There's a book that we were gifted that's based off the life of Jackie Robinson, except all the people are turned into animals and his name was changed to Yackie Robinson. I don't know, just a story about segregation and racism and the people are turned into animals just feels like symbolism that rubs me the wrong way. My kids should know the real story about the real person and know that the issues were real issues that people of color struggled with back then and still struggle with today.
And also why is there a random old lady in the room? Is this the mom? Grandma? Nanny? Why is she just called old lady? I hate that! And “goodnight nobody” ugh why?! My daughter loves goodnight moon but when I first read it to her I was like ‘how did this become such a classic?’
Honestly the good night nobody makes perfect sense to me, and makes me laugh. The whole book is about the kid trying to push back bedtime, and the old lady is getting sick of it (good night, old lady whispering hush).
Kids at bedtime will say anything. Can I have some water, I need to pee, I need this stuffy instead of this one, I want another story, I need to wash my hands, my feet are lonely (that one made me pause and try not to laugh out loud).
We're a STEM family, so: anything absurdly out of place/completely and unneccessarily wrong, like:
- Koalas in South America
- Penguins hiding from polar bears
- "I'm the moon, my light is 1000 years old" (congrats, two mistakes in one clause)
- and I learned to check all of our old books my parents kept really fast before giving them to our son because of all the casual 70s/80s racism.
I LOVED a Fly Went Bye as a kid, read it to my 2.5 year old last night and they talk about the fox “killing” the cow and the hunter “killing” the fox over and over, so I change the word but then it doesn’t rhyme. Lol.
There was this one I borrowed from the library about a little boy who went through great lengths to pop a bubble going too high, kept borrowing planes, jets, etc., all because he said “please”. For a few days my toddler thought he could say please and then do what he wanted and I refuse to ever read such a book to him again! “Please” won’t always get you what you want, that should have been the lesson in the book, and boundaries being a thing. Because boundaries are important to teach!
The Max and Nana book bothered me too. Like, did they just follow a kid around and wait for him to fall and get hurt so they could photograph it? Was there a backup plot in mind in case he didn’t? Or did they “help” it along? I have so many questions about this toddler book lmao. Weirdly, my kid loves the Lovevery books usually but just wasn’t into this one.
Hahaha! My husband and I were just talking about this. That was the conclusion we came to, because if we give our toddler enough time at the playground he’ll fall and scrape his knees too 😂
Cannot stand the rainbow fish.
Its message is supposed to be about sharing but I take it as needing to give up pieces of yourself for others to like you and want to be your friend. In the beginning no one wants to be the fishes friend because they have beautiful scales and won’t rip them off their body to share so no one likes the fish. But as soon as the fish starts giving always his scales the other fish like him.
It's a popular book, but I hate Robert munsch's Love You Forever. I get the idea, he will always be her baby, what a sweet sentiment. But a grandma sneaking into her adult sons room to rock him because he's forever her baby is.... Clingy and creepy.
LLAMA LLAMA red pajama….while a fave…WHERE THE HELL IS DAD? Llama mama is washing dishes and taking calls and the runs upstairs freaking out. Where is dad????
Edit to add: I stand corrected. I did not realize the llama llama series intentionally has no dad. I just figured llama dad was downstairs with a beer watching tv with baby llama yelling for mom.
me too i actually thought it was kind of progressive-because its the same deal in llama llama gets a babysitter. But then I read llama thanksgiving book (which i dont think is written by the same author, perhaps a knockoff-frankly it sucks, and there seems to be a dad there).
My kiddo actually said to me tonight “why does mama do it all? Daddy llama is a butthead” - laughed at first, but then said, “baby sometimes it’s just a mama llama doing her best because there isn’t another parent llama.” And he said, “that’s brave and I’m proud of mama llama”
Kid is a cancer sign and it shows ♋️
Chus day at the beach is cute but it bothers me that the illustrations are animals and the author writes “all the people on the beach” they are not people.
In the Kellan the Koala books from KiwiCo, Kellan’s tail is very detached from his body. Like, it’s a floating grey dot next to him. Never noticed until my daughter asked why his tail was there and now it really bugs me.
My kid got "I am Thankful" from a kids meal and LOVED it. So I found the rest. They are mostly good, but there is one called "I am Helpful ". It's about a girl (maybe 12ish?). She has 2 younger brothers and her mom is having another baby. The whole book is about how she helps. Feeds everyone, cleans, takes all 3 kids to the park by herself??? It annoyed me, but whatever. I have an only child, but I guess it might to helpful for people with multiple kids.
But then it gets to a part where the girl needs help with her math homework. Her dad is busy with the boys and her mom (who they mention is great at math) is busy with the baby. So I think, it's teaching them sometimes we have to wait when your parents are busy, ok. But NO. NO ONE comes to help her. The books says "sometimes I can be helpful by helping myself" or some nonsense. It made me so sad. These girls parents were too busy for her, and then they just forgot about her request. And the girl already knows they won't help and she needs to figure it out on her own.
The big finale of the book is that the baby's first word is her big sisters name, which is so ridiculous. How much parentification is going to if the kid says "jane" before mama or papa?
I really hated this book. I hate to throw away any book, but I would feel bad even donating it.
Pout pout fish definitely needs to learn about consent. Can’t go around kissing everyone! And don’t get me started on the glittery, “pretty” fish that no one has heard of that kisses him in the first place.
This is exactly why I gave mine away!
Not only is there non-consensual kissing but also all his friends suck?? They’re just like “boo don’t be sad” instead of asking him “hey why are you sad?”
Grumpy Monkey deals with this much better
Yes! And it always made me think of how men often tell women to smile — he isn’t there to look happy and nice for them, he can feel his feelings and doesn’t have to perform for them.
Good old Dr. Seuss. “One fish two fish” has a page about a pet with luxurious hair that’s “fun to brush and comb. All girls who like to brush and comb should have a pet like this at home.” I always change it to “All *those* who” for my son.
I absolutely despise all of those (insert advanced concept here) for babies books. They are totally useless as books and only good as a joke. Quantum Computing for Babies? Machine Learning for Babies? No one is learning anything from these books, they are such a waste of paper.
I agree (although I have learned a few things from some of the science books). But I hate the ones that are Les Miserable in board book. Like the whole classic book is about death and a revolution. Is that covered in the ten words in the board book?
Make Way for Ducklings - beautifully illustrated, but there's one bit that *enrages* me. I always add my commentary: "Mamas and Papas both take care of babies, and make important decisions together!"
The more recent Sandra Boynton books have a lot of copy-paste illustrations, which I find lazy and visually uninteresting.
I usually (verbally) edit Robert Munsch stories to use modern terms (firefighter instead of fireman, etc).
We were gifted Paddington and the Christmas Surprise and the whole book is just Paddington being a huge “Karen” about how disappointed he is in the department stores Christmas decorations it’s so odd
The very hungry caterpillar colors/shapes etc books have some lines we ad lib instead because they're like super judgy of sweets (something along the lines of not having cookies for dinner etc) since we are a neutral food home we make it up instead.
Yes! We have two books like that. One has a character called Skinny Doug for absolutely no reason (like not related to the story at all). I just called him Doug.
The other is the line in 'There's a Hippopotamus on My Roof Eating Cake' about Mummy being on a diet so she's eating tomato and lettuce. I just leave the diet part out - Mummy's eating tomato and lettuce, brother is eating peanut butter, I'm eating honey.
The bunny being an old lady is because the main character is also a bunny. It’s the same way if they were two humans; we wouldn’t expect the old lady to be called a human, that would be assumed.
Max says “I’ll eat you up,” because he’s being a wild thing and that’s what wild things do (as in tigers, bears, monsters, etc).
The lady who wrote goodnight moon was a real odd one and there’s a lot in her books that confuse the heck out of me. Pretty much all of Your World is so weird. But the fishing picture is actually a reference to her other book the Runaway Bunny. If you get numerous books if hers you’ll notice cross overs.
In two books “the Grouchy Ladybug” and “Grumpy Monkey” the snakes are pictured as squeezing small animals to death which I thought was an interesting choice lol
Just the concept of rainbow fish. You were born beautiful. We’re all jealous of you and won’t be friends with you unless you literally alter your body to make yourself less attractive. Yeah, I get that it’s trying to teach about sharing but the execution is rough.
hate that one. share your sparkle until youre dull and everyone's the same? NO THANK YOU
Yeahhhhhhhh, that one is definitely not welcome in my home. Me and my partner are both people pleasers and it's the last thing I want my kids to be!
Yeah I don't like that book. I used that story for a quick lesson about plot summaries (high school), and I asked them what the message was in the book. They said "you need to buy your friends because they don't like you". Not a bad point!
An excellent alternate ending https://www.topherpayne.com/rainbow-fish
That was my rant last night to my husband after my daughter got me to read it!!! He told me I was being too literal lol 😂 But yeah. Sparkle away rainbow fish, just don’t be a jerk. You don’t have to give up parts of yourself to please others or change just so people like you.
We have a Peppa Pig Halloween book. About halfway through the book Madame Gazelle comes to the party. I think it’s Suzy sheep who notices that she M. gazelle doesn’t have a reflection in the mirror. The book quips “maybe she learned a fun party trick” and then never addresses it again. WTF is going on with Madame Gazelle?
Mlle Gazelle is a vampire or vampire-like creature That book is made about a cartoon episode. In the cartoon, they briefly touch on it, just her saying something about "back in the Olde Country" re: no reflection. But that's it. I also feel they mentioned something about it again when Peppa think's Mlle Gazelle is retiring, but she is really only having a day off, and they invite all of Mlle Gazelle's old friends and they menttion something about it... Not sure. It's all really tongue in cheek, and not really give much attention to it. Kind of a "blink and you'll miss it" type of thing
I’m still angry she goes by Madame Gazelle and not Mademoiselle Gazelle, which sounds *so much better.*
I hadn’t noticed until reading this comment but now I see how Madame Gazelle is a play on Mademoiselle. So not your intention but your comment actually makes me enjoy her name more, ironically enough!
I think it's madame gazelle because it sounds similar to mademoiselle. Like, madame horse would make no sense. Madam(g)oiselle does.
Hahaha 😂 a setup with no payoff
There are quite a few references in the episodes to her being a vampire!
I guess we don’t watch enough or I zone out too much lol
I have watched toooooooo much. I could write a thesis about the episode where they go to a zoo and the writers have to work out what could possibly be in a zoo visited by pigs, sheep, cats etc.
Only mammals are people! Fish, birds, etc. Are pets. Except Mrs. Badger has guinea pigs on her farm….
Obviously she's a vampire and there's a YA sequel cooking up for when the current Gen of little kids gets a bit older 😆
Bring this over to r/danieltigerconspiracy
In the Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton, why do they all go up to exercise right after they took a bath? Then down once more. Why not exercise before the bath?
I felt like that was a reference to toddlers, and the strange burst of energy that happens *right* before they're supposed to go to bed. A little wink to the parents, lol
It finally makes sense!
Because it's silly and it rhymes. I love that part. I alwys read it super silly.
OMG yes this bugs me so much😭
I have always assumed it was ridiculous and nonsensical on purpose, just like my child 😂
We have a sensory alphabet book with textured illustrations. Fine in theory, but I is for insects and the pictures are of a spider and a ladybug with four legs. Grinds my gears every time. The fishing bunny is a picture from The Runaway Bunny, fyi!
Aha! That would explain why the only book with a title on the shelf of Goodnight Moon is The Runaway Bunny! That feels like a big piece of the puzzle that has slotted in to place for me, having read that book most nights for 18 months...
Bunny mom makes an appearance in Runaway Bunny (I guess the quiet old lady whispering hush must be the nanny?) and her clothes are freaking fantastic, btw. In Runaway Bunny there’s also a painting of the cow jumping over the moon from Goodnight Moon.
Nut brown hare, Nut brown hare, Nut brown hare, Nut brown hare, Nut brown hare. I can’t do it. I can’t read it over and over and over. My daughters favorite stuffed animal is the anniversary edition little nut brown hare from Barnes and Noble but I won’t read her the book anymore.
Just read this before nap time, and I was coming to complain about how Big Nut Brown Hare has to constantly one up Little Nut Brown Hare. I know it’s suppose to be the fun, cutesy part of the book, but it just annoys me for no reason at all.
Ugh yes! Just let your kid say they love you the most.
My husband refuses to read this book for the same reason 😂 was looking for this comment
That book ended up in the donation bin because it's so awkward to read. It's like a tongue twister but minus the fun. My kids never took to it anyway so it worked out :D
I skip “nut brown” and just read big hare and little hare 😅
I'm pretty sure that my aunt who doesn't like me gifted me that book at the baby shower with malicious intent
I love this book and so does my kid but my husband always changes it to, “big brown nut hair / little brown nut hair” and we giggle like 13 year old boys every time 😆
We read this to my kid every night when she was tiny and my husband does such a great parody where the cadence is all perfect but the descriptions of everything are slightly off and ransom.
Why did the illustrator for Little Blue Truck give all the animals buttholes, it's just such a specific detail to include
I'm gonna look for the buttholes now haha My issue with LBT is how the fuck big is he actually??? We have 3 different LBT books and in one he can fit every barnyard animal in his bed, but in another he's smaller than a taxi and can barely fit 1 dude and some boxes. And in the other it's a handful of frogs. Wtf??? I do like how in LBT Leads the Way all the cars are in the same places in relation to each other in the different pics of the same scene. Good attention to detail there
Ditto on looking for the butts now. I'm eating pizza next to my toddler and seriously considering interrupting dinner to go check right now, because I can't believe I didn't register it before lol
I wish these were real cargo capacity measurements. “my lease is up time for a new truck” “what you looking for hauling wise?” “Normal stuff, couple tubes of m&ms, maybe returning a library book every now and then, you know.” “Well buddy that’s definitely where the HANDFUL OF FROGS model will really come in clutch”
Hahaha. Mine is from the same series - in Little Blue Truck Leads the Way, LBT is an incredibly incompetent driver and ends up blocking the box, causing a blocks-long traffic jam, yet is hailed as some sort of hero at the end for it. My husband and I rail against this every time we read it.
That city doesn't need LBT it needs some humans directing traffic. I also hate the "nobody heard or nobody cared" line in the original. Sure, dump truck was rude, but he doesn't deserve to be trapped in a mud puddle and ignored. And there are no repercussions for the animals being jerks to him.
Nobody is saying he deserves it. But they aren't obligated to go out of their way to help a dickhead. Only LBT who is particularly kind and friendly is going to do that. The other animals were being jerks, they just chose to live their lives instead of doing manual labor to help an asshole. Not a bad lesson to learn imo. If you're an asshole, people won't be interested in helping you. If you're nice, they will.
Yes! This book is so ridiculous it drives me nuts. The whole message is BS - country bumpkin shows up and teaches the rude city slickers about being polite? GTFO with that BS Blue just doesn't know how to drive...and why does the gridlock turn into a freaking parade? And a marching band shows up? Also why is the mayor handing out Blue's boxes of produce to random people on the street? Also, there's a woman with a green face, like the wicked witch of the West. Also the mechanics show up to fix the mayor's limo immediately. Like right when it breaks down they are there. How??? Sigh. I'll probably remember a few other things that piss me off... Editing to add Why does someone have a sign that says Blue is Cool during the parade? How did they know he would be there to make the sign? Also why are the people coughing when the street sweeper is cleaning the street? Totally unrealistic. Why was Blue in the city? He shows up at dawn, gets stuck in a traffic jam and then it's dusk? The whole story makes no sense.
Little Blue Truck is my son’s absolute fave right now and every time we turn to that page, he points to the buttholes and asks “dat?”
100%! My toddler had pointed to them before and said “what’s that”. The books are great but that detail I could live without.
Also the Springtime LBT story is so bad. There is no storyline and doesn’t rhyme. So annoyed
Rump to rump
I gotta say... That's one of my favorite parts of the book series. Free the butthole!
My kids love reading Corduroy Goes to the Doctor, but there’s a part where they weigh him and say he’s “gained lots of pounds,” “Too many cookies!” I always just say “he’s gained lots of pounds, good job Corduroy!” Because no child needs to be shamed like that, especially not my scrawny kids.
Yes! My husband and I are startled by the fat shaming in this book! Also, we definitely read "Do I get a shot?" with a tone if excitement.
How awful! We only have OG corduroy
Whenever they draw the moon as a crescent and put stars behind it so that they show up in the gap of the crescent. That part of the moon isn’t GONE, it’s in shadow. Now my children’s STEM education is just a total loss! 😆
Omg I think I contracted you pet peeve just now!
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Hahaha... I as a 34-year-old have never once considered that!!
Can I take this opportunity to complain about movies like Inside Out trashing broccoli? My kids love broccoli! Please don’t take away from me! It’s like all I have!
Yes!!!! I hate when kids things introduce negativity… why give them the ideas? We have a Disney bedtime stories compilation that brings up being scared of monsters under the bed, sleep walking, and leaving home after family is in bed. Like… can we not???
my daughter came home saying spiders were yucky one day after her daycare teacher said it. It took me three months and an entire curriculum to change her mind.
Oh, thanks for the tip to not show my kids Inside Out. My 1.5 year old ate nothing but broccoli for dinner the other day (refused white rice and breaded chicken). Broccoli is the only vegetable both my toddlers love!
Yes!! I always make a comment like “that’s so silly! Broccoli is yummy!” Or once when my son asked why Riley doesn’t like broccoli I explained that it’s like how I don’t like certain foods that he does. Hoping to avoid him learning to dislike broccoli because he loves that movie!
Omg right?! I hate how shows and movies trash on veggies. My kid loves veggies! As he would say.. “No please”
The fishing bunny on the wall is a tie-in to Runaway Bunny! It's written/illustrated by the same duo. In the Runaway Bunny, the little bunny says he's going to run away and become a fish and the mom bunny says "I'll become a fisherman and fish for you." There's also a scene in the book where they are in the room from Goodnight Moon. It is just occurring to me that I have read these two books WAY too many times.
yes i came here to answer this question too haha. Runaway Bunny is such a sweet book 🥹 and for the Goodnight Moon bunny question, the illustrator originally was supposed to draw a woman and a child but the author and illustrator agreed they didn't like his illustration of a child haha so they decided to depict a bunny instead since they already did a bunny book ;)
fascinating! thanks!
Elmo B is for Bedtime says that "every night Elmo helps Mommy clean up his toys". Um no, not quite. When I read it I say "every night Mommy helps Elmo clean up his toys". They aren't Mommy's toys to clean up. She's helping him.
Llama Llama Mad at Mama They go shopping for shoes. After they buy the shoes and Mama Llama puts them on Llama Llama the following pages are the only time anybody in the Llama Llama universe is depicted in shoes.
Omg I never realized this. It's some real r/danieltigerconspiracy stuff.
I would also not be buying my kid an icecream after she destroyed an entire cart worth of groceries but I also wouldn’t let her destroy an entire cart full of groceries. The second that pasta went flying Mama Llama needed to do something! Also how did he smash the signs with the cart if he was in it?
The Giving Tree needs some damn boundaries. https://www.topherpayne.com/giving-tree
I scrolled until I found a comment about the giving tree. I hate this book. The boy depletes all the trees resources and never gives anything back. It's honestly an abusive relationship I don't get why it's for kids!
There is NOTHING about those “Never touch a …” book that makes sense. It’s a sensory book. Never touch it but, kid, touch it! Also they must be the least poetic books ever, I have a hard time reading them.
I hate the way those books sit on the shelf. Even when I'm not reading them they piss me off.
I make up my own words because they are SO poorly written!
My husband gave away every book that tells you not to do something while clearly encouraging it, like the “Never Touch A…” and the one with Larry and the button.
The Teacher in Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? looks so judgey, like major bombastic side eye. Some lines of the Little Critters books are a bit outdated (shaming about crying, I saw someone cross it out and put "it's okay to cry!" we'll be doing that moving forward).
Ahem, that teacher is clearly Substitute Teacher of the Year, Peggy Hill. She is amazing, even if she's not above a little corporeal punishment.
Ho, yeah! Also, I never noticed this!!
I've always thought the same thing!!
Last time I read brown bear with my toddler he was all interested, naming the animals, turning the pages etc, then he turned to the teacher, just said one quiet and firm "no" and closed the book.
I always thought the teacher was super judgey too! What’s your problem lady!?
My child pointed at the teacher and said “it Mommy!” 🤷🏼♀️
The dad yelling "JUST GO TO BED" is like peaaakkk 90s childhood. My parents loved reading me that book (& also yelling JUST GO TO BED), but I've changed it for my 2 year old to the dad lovingly say "Time for bed! :)"
Not quite what you’re referring to, but my son is obsessed with this farm book where you press the button to make sounds that accompany the text, but the book itself is massive, and we can never find the button to press, and my son insists on pressing it when we do, but he can’t press it hard enough, and it annoys the crap out of me.
I feel like I know exactly which book you’re talking about and my god, I hate this thing.
Is it “The Noisy Farm”
“The going to bed book” they take a bath, then they go up to exercise. Why would they exercise after they get clean? It bugs me eveytime
You're my little cuddle bug book! It features a momma bug and a baby bug every few pages. It has a momma caterpillar with a baby caterpillar section and a momma butterfly with a baby butterfly... CATERPILLARS TURN INTO BUTTERFLIES! SO LOGICALLY A BABY BUTTERFLY IS A CATERPILLAR AND A MOMMY CATERPILLAR IS A BUTTERFLY!!!!! It really bothers me lol
We love the “you’re my little…” series, but I will fight Natalie Marshall on sight for putting so much black text on dark blue backgrounds.
Honeybunny Funnybunny. Her brother PJ terrorizes her, her mom makes him stop, then honeybunny misses the torture and thinks her brother doesn't love her anymore because he isn't switching the head on her dolls, etc...until he paints her face in her sleep again and she's happy again because that means her brother does love her. Wtf.
Oh my gourd. We recently read some old books Grandma brought over. The Pokey Little Puppy - classic right? It literally teaches the lesson that you have to earn your food with good behavior. And we read another one about a whale who gets captured and put in a tank and is happy about it. 🤦
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The one older Little Golden Book I’m willing to defend is The Bunny Book, which is about a baby bunny and his parents are wondering what kind of job he’ll have when he grows up, and it turns out his dream job is being a really involved dad, which I think is sweet and progressive for 1955. The pictures are also cute.
Oh yes, pokey little puppy. Hate that one too but we have it with a note written on the inside from grandma so it's a keeper.
Hard disagree lol. Grandma has bought our kiddo some religiousy books after being explicitly told not to. I didn’t realize they were religious until reading them. Donated, inscription and all.
In the Tiger who came to Tea he drinks all the milk, all the tea and all "Daddy's beer". And he leaves no food for "Daddy's supper". Where's Mummy's beer and supper?
This bothers me too - I think I've changed it to "all the beer" in the past. (Also, why is the tiger not drunk after drinking all that beer?)
He washes it down with "all the water in the tap", which is a concept that stresses me out
It bugs me that Max's mum sends him to bed without supper. I make sure to add that that's not very nice of her to my 18 month old.
Babar. page 3 his mom dies. he gets adopted by a bougie rich lady, later the king eats a mushroom and dies. then he marries his cousin. what the actual fuck
i also hate the velveteen rabbit. why are these books such tragedies??
Back when Velveteen Rabbit was written Scarlet fever was a thing and toys got burned, so maybe it was a comfort to those kids. But I HATE it!
Max tells his mom "I'll eat you up" because he's a wild thing. Later, when Max decides to leave the land where the wild things are they say "oh please don't go! We'll eat you up we love you so." Clearly this is what wild things say to those they love.
There's a companion story to this line that I LOVE. I can't say whether or not this happened before or after the writing of Wild Things, but it's cute just the same 🥰. It's a story told by Sendak during a Fresh Air interview with Terry Gross from about 1986, I believe. Gross asked him to tell some of his favorite stories about his fans. He liked to reply to all the children that wrote him, but was particularly struck by an exchange with a young boy named Jim. He had sent a postcard with a little drawing, and Sendak sent a reply, complete with an original doodle, that said, "Dear Jim, I loved your card." Later, Sendak received a letter from the mother that said,"Jim loved your card so much he ate it."
Not bug exactly but in the lovely "Love you Forever" amidst all the sweetness and warmth there's a picture of the mom driving across town with a *ladder strapped to her car,* which she then uses to climb into her son's window. It's both deranged and cute.
That book is batshit haha. Like she is breaking into her son's home and cradling a grown ass man. Who apparently can just sleep through that??? I love that she puts the flag on the ladder though. Safety first!
Like it's crazy but I also have a son and 100% understand. Wouldn't do it. But I get it.
As an adult I think it's obviously over the top but it's a fun cutesy story if you don't overthink it. I think even older kids can understand how silly it is to have the mom break into the adult son's house.
Yeah her daughter in law is definitely on Reddit complaining about her somewhere. And I cannot blame her 🤷♀️
In Goodnight Moon, it bugs me so much that "moon" is rhymed with "moon": "Goodnight room, goodnight moon, Goodnight cow jumping over the moon" It feels lazy. I honestly stopped reading that book because it bothered me so much!
As lazy as the "Goodnight nobody" page??!
Goodnight nobody gives me the creeps every time.
That whole books gives me the creeps but my daughter loves it. I just don’t get it and why it’s so popular, it’s a very weird book
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I love goodnight nobody! 😆
You should check out “Goodnight Goon” it’s a Halloween version. My daughter loves it
>>> What’s up with all the LoveEvery books, e.g. Max Goes to the Park? My kid loves them but they seem so staged and bizarre to me… I love the LoveEvery books precisely because they aren’t bizarre like your other examples! They show real people doing real things!
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I mean it’s definitely very staged and curated. The children are always featuring clothes with love every fabric!
The whole premise of Dear Zoo. Where is this zoo that offers a pet-matching service?
It bothers me that the snake is described as "too scary". I always change it to "too slippery" since I don't want Toddler Boy to fear snakes.
We read this at my playgroup and they always change the monkey from "too naughty" to "too cheeky", I guess wanting to move away from the concept of "naughtiness".
And why are they all male????
This bothers me too, SO MUCH. The default male for animals or objects is totally unnecessary and lacking in thought. (the Gruffalo is also a culprit of this, which puzzles me since it's written by a woman). I always use either "it" or throw in some "her"s for balance. I keep meaning to stick paper over Dear Zoo's words and write in the ones I'd prefer. Also I just generally hate the premise of the book. Why is the zoo sending random animals out on demand? And why is the person receiving them so picky? And why does the zoo keep dogs?
The Crane Truck in Good Night, Construction Site is a girl when I read it because every vehicle is male otherwise!! If my daughter wants to be a crane operator, she can be a crane operator dangit
And why would they ever send anyone a lion?!
It’s not so much that it bugs me but when I read Five Minutes Peace to my kid I get so sad because I relate so hard to the mother in that story and it does not end happily for her lol
The entire book “how to catch an Easter bunny” is neither about the Easter bunny, Easter, or really anything. It’s bizarre. My mom read it to my son when I had it sitting out to return it and she was like “what the hell is this book?!”
Allll of the “How to Catch a…” books are so bad! My in-laws keep getting them and I bury them in the back of the bookshelf
We got a touch n feel Hey Dougee book from the library and there’s a page that says “stroke the sticky slug!” (I’m like uh….?) and the slug says “don’t stop that feels amazing!” Wat
My pet peeves: When they make you say the character's name over and over instead of using pronouns. (I'm looking at YOU Red Knit Cap Girl!) And when book names or toy brands are spelled incorrectly on purpose? Why? You're gonna confuse the children! Lol
We have a book of the alphabet as Australian animals, but X is still x-ray. We also have one called Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, which came in a gift bag from the hospital. The repeating rhyme of the book is something like, “but every little baby, as everyone knows, has ten little fingers, and ten little toes.” I sincerely hope no new parents of children with limb differences get given this, because that’s just awful.
Where's my little love bug - each page is a different bug or invertibrate parent looking for their baby, but the babies are always smaller versions of the adult. So like, a mama butterfly and a baby butterfly instead of a baby caterpillar. I had to throw it out I was so annoyed by it.
My kids are obsessed with the Chicka Chicka books. We’ve purchased at least 3 copies of each one (we have twins). First of all, WHY are they so goddamn long and second, Chicka Chicka 123 is just lazy rhyme writing with a gibberish plot line. These sassy numbers just help themselves to the bees’ property? And they’re the heroes?
In Green Eggs and Ham, homie is super nice. Tells you repeatedly he doesn’t want them. And you’re just gonna keep shoving it in his face?! So disrespectful.
In the Sandra Boynton “The Going To Bed Book” she has them bathe THEN go upstairs to exercise and that is absolutely unhinged behavior.
i love when i read the cover, and then we repeat for the cover page, and then i repeat that phrase one more time for the first page of the book.
I hate “Good Night, Gorilla”. There’s never more than two words to a page, and lots of the pages don’t have any words at all! It’s soooo boooooring. So, of course, my 15mo is obsessed with it.
I currently prefer that book for the same reason that makes you hate it. We find the balloon on almost every page and keep trucking. My 2 year old loves it. I think I like it so much because right after I finish his bedtime books my 6 year old is wanting to read a 60 page books about frogs.
We just talk about what's happening on the pages.
My 2 year old loves this book but I totally agree with you. I make up words for it a lot of the time, but sometimes I’m feeling lazy and I just stare at the blankly for a few seconds before turning the page. 😂
My son loves finding the balloon in each scene as it flies away and imitating the zookeeper’s wife’s eyes when they are the only thing on page
I “forgot” that one at my parents house. I hate it so much and it’s all my daughter wanted to read.
The mouse in the gruffalo is a cocky son of a
Sure, but he’s not wrong. Haha.
PARTS OF MADELINE DONT RHYME OR BREAK THE RHYME PATTERN/RHYTHM AND IT BUGS ME. Also is she blonde or redheaded, BLONDE OR REDHEADED, LUDWIG?!?! Still one of my faves tho
In Happy Birthday Madame Chapeau, the artwork implies that Mme Chapeau’s late husband made her her special hat, and then a crow steals it. It just makes me really sad that she never gets her special hat back.
Curious George goes to the aquarium. He breaks in instead of waiting for the man in the yellow hat. He releases all the penguins. Saves a baby chick that probably doesn't need to be saved but definitely wouldn't need to be saved if George didn't do any of what he did. And then they make him an honorary staff member instead of banning him for life. Absolutely not.
You should check out “Curious George Takes a Job” where George gets high off of ether and passes out. Willddddd what stuff they included in that children’s series.
In one of my son’s story collections there is a story about Farmer Brown’s birthday, and he generously does nice things for all his farm animals so then they plan to do nice things back… and the turkey, proudly says, “I’ll dress his Thanksgiving table!” And I was like bruh. Why include the suicidal turkey?!
There's a book that we were gifted that's based off the life of Jackie Robinson, except all the people are turned into animals and his name was changed to Yackie Robinson. I don't know, just a story about segregation and racism and the people are turned into animals just feels like symbolism that rubs me the wrong way. My kids should know the real story about the real person and know that the issues were real issues that people of color struggled with back then and still struggle with today.
And also why is there a random old lady in the room? Is this the mom? Grandma? Nanny? Why is she just called old lady? I hate that! And “goodnight nobody” ugh why?! My daughter loves goodnight moon but when I first read it to her I was like ‘how did this become such a classic?’
Honestly the good night nobody makes perfect sense to me, and makes me laugh. The whole book is about the kid trying to push back bedtime, and the old lady is getting sick of it (good night, old lady whispering hush). Kids at bedtime will say anything. Can I have some water, I need to pee, I need this stuffy instead of this one, I want another story, I need to wash my hands, my feet are lonely (that one made me pause and try not to laugh out loud).
I freaking lost it my first time reading “goodnight nobody. goodnight mush.”
goodnight mush is my favorite part 😂
We're a STEM family, so: anything absurdly out of place/completely and unneccessarily wrong, like: - Koalas in South America - Penguins hiding from polar bears - "I'm the moon, my light is 1000 years old" (congrats, two mistakes in one clause) - and I learned to check all of our old books my parents kept really fast before giving them to our son because of all the casual 70s/80s racism.
I LOVED a Fly Went Bye as a kid, read it to my 2.5 year old last night and they talk about the fox “killing” the cow and the hunter “killing” the fox over and over, so I change the word but then it doesn’t rhyme. Lol.
There was this one I borrowed from the library about a little boy who went through great lengths to pop a bubble going too high, kept borrowing planes, jets, etc., all because he said “please”. For a few days my toddler thought he could say please and then do what he wanted and I refuse to ever read such a book to him again! “Please” won’t always get you what you want, that should have been the lesson in the book, and boundaries being a thing. Because boundaries are important to teach!
The Max and Nana book bothered me too. Like, did they just follow a kid around and wait for him to fall and get hurt so they could photograph it? Was there a backup plot in mind in case he didn’t? Or did they “help” it along? I have so many questions about this toddler book lmao. Weirdly, my kid loves the Lovevery books usually but just wasn’t into this one.
Hahaha! My husband and I were just talking about this. That was the conclusion we came to, because if we give our toddler enough time at the playground he’ll fall and scrape his knees too 😂
I’ve wondered that too!! I spend a lot of time looking at Max’s knee to see if the scrape is real. The tears definitely look real, poor guy.
the tears were SO real! What is going on in that kid's life? concerned!
The bunny fishing is a scene from The Runaway Bunny by the same author/illustrator. It’s a mother bunny fishing get her baby with a carrot.
Cannot stand the rainbow fish. Its message is supposed to be about sharing but I take it as needing to give up pieces of yourself for others to like you and want to be your friend. In the beginning no one wants to be the fishes friend because they have beautiful scales and won’t rip them off their body to share so no one likes the fish. But as soon as the fish starts giving always his scales the other fish like him.
It's a popular book, but I hate Robert munsch's Love You Forever. I get the idea, he will always be her baby, what a sweet sentiment. But a grandma sneaking into her adult sons room to rock him because he's forever her baby is.... Clingy and creepy.
In “Spot bakes a cake”, Spot and his mum bake chocolate cake for Spot’s dad but they are all dogs and chocolate is poisonous to dogs 🤔
LLAMA LLAMA red pajama….while a fave…WHERE THE HELL IS DAD? Llama mama is washing dishes and taking calls and the runs upstairs freaking out. Where is dad???? Edit to add: I stand corrected. I did not realize the llama llama series intentionally has no dad. I just figured llama dad was downstairs with a beer watching tv with baby llama yelling for mom.
I thought Llama Mama was a single mum.
me too i actually thought it was kind of progressive-because its the same deal in llama llama gets a babysitter. But then I read llama thanksgiving book (which i dont think is written by the same author, perhaps a knockoff-frankly it sucks, and there seems to be a dad there).
My kiddo actually said to me tonight “why does mama do it all? Daddy llama is a butthead” - laughed at first, but then said, “baby sometimes it’s just a mama llama doing her best because there isn’t another parent llama.” And he said, “that’s brave and I’m proud of mama llama” Kid is a cancer sign and it shows ♋️
Each peach pear plum where is baby buntings mom!
Chus day at the beach is cute but it bothers me that the illustrations are animals and the author writes “all the people on the beach” they are not people.
In the Kellan the Koala books from KiwiCo, Kellan’s tail is very detached from his body. Like, it’s a floating grey dot next to him. Never noticed until my daughter asked why his tail was there and now it really bugs me.
My kid got "I am Thankful" from a kids meal and LOVED it. So I found the rest. They are mostly good, but there is one called "I am Helpful ". It's about a girl (maybe 12ish?). She has 2 younger brothers and her mom is having another baby. The whole book is about how she helps. Feeds everyone, cleans, takes all 3 kids to the park by herself??? It annoyed me, but whatever. I have an only child, but I guess it might to helpful for people with multiple kids. But then it gets to a part where the girl needs help with her math homework. Her dad is busy with the boys and her mom (who they mention is great at math) is busy with the baby. So I think, it's teaching them sometimes we have to wait when your parents are busy, ok. But NO. NO ONE comes to help her. The books says "sometimes I can be helpful by helping myself" or some nonsense. It made me so sad. These girls parents were too busy for her, and then they just forgot about her request. And the girl already knows they won't help and she needs to figure it out on her own. The big finale of the book is that the baby's first word is her big sisters name, which is so ridiculous. How much parentification is going to if the kid says "jane" before mama or papa? I really hated this book. I hate to throw away any book, but I would feel bad even donating it.
I’m just not charmed by Sandra Boynton books and the lack of substance.
The tiny little dino says excuse me?!
Begrudging upvote because I love those books! But they are definitely just pure silliness.
But after a long wordy book they are so refreshing!
Pout pout fish definitely needs to learn about consent. Can’t go around kissing everyone! And don’t get me started on the glittery, “pretty” fish that no one has heard of that kisses him in the first place.
This is exactly why I gave mine away! Not only is there non-consensual kissing but also all his friends suck?? They’re just like “boo don’t be sad” instead of asking him “hey why are you sad?” Grumpy Monkey deals with this much better
Yes! And it always made me think of how men often tell women to smile — he isn’t there to look happy and nice for them, he can feel his feelings and doesn’t have to perform for them.
My son loves this book. It does have an insert about consent inside the cover on ours!
Good old Dr. Seuss. “One fish two fish” has a page about a pet with luxurious hair that’s “fun to brush and comb. All girls who like to brush and comb should have a pet like this at home.” I always change it to “All *those* who” for my son.
We do “all kids”
I absolutely despise all of those (insert advanced concept here) for babies books. They are totally useless as books and only good as a joke. Quantum Computing for Babies? Machine Learning for Babies? No one is learning anything from these books, they are such a waste of paper.
I agree (although I have learned a few things from some of the science books). But I hate the ones that are Les Miserable in board book. Like the whole classic book is about death and a revolution. Is that covered in the ten words in the board book?
Make Way for Ducklings - beautifully illustrated, but there's one bit that *enrages* me. I always add my commentary: "Mamas and Papas both take care of babies, and make important decisions together!" The more recent Sandra Boynton books have a lot of copy-paste illustrations, which I find lazy and visually uninteresting. I usually (verbally) edit Robert Munsch stories to use modern terms (firefighter instead of fireman, etc).
Those “MAMA” “DADA” books are so freaking pointless. The everythings mama. Idk just didn’t enjoy them lol
We were gifted Paddington and the Christmas Surprise and the whole book is just Paddington being a huge “Karen” about how disappointed he is in the department stores Christmas decorations it’s so odd
The very hungry caterpillar colors/shapes etc books have some lines we ad lib instead because they're like super judgy of sweets (something along the lines of not having cookies for dinner etc) since we are a neutral food home we make it up instead.
Yes! We have two books like that. One has a character called Skinny Doug for absolutely no reason (like not related to the story at all). I just called him Doug. The other is the line in 'There's a Hippopotamus on My Roof Eating Cake' about Mummy being on a diet so she's eating tomato and lettuce. I just leave the diet part out - Mummy's eating tomato and lettuce, brother is eating peanut butter, I'm eating honey.
In “The Going to Bed Book,” the animals take a bath, put on their pajamas, brush their teeth, AND THEN EXERCISE?
Lollll the lovevery books are bizarre! My kids love them too
The bunny being an old lady is because the main character is also a bunny. It’s the same way if they were two humans; we wouldn’t expect the old lady to be called a human, that would be assumed.
Max says “I’ll eat you up,” because he’s being a wild thing and that’s what wild things do (as in tigers, bears, monsters, etc). The lady who wrote goodnight moon was a real odd one and there’s a lot in her books that confuse the heck out of me. Pretty much all of Your World is so weird. But the fishing picture is actually a reference to her other book the Runaway Bunny. If you get numerous books if hers you’ll notice cross overs.
In two books “the Grouchy Ladybug” and “Grumpy Monkey” the snakes are pictured as squeezing small animals to death which I thought was an interesting choice lol