Seriously: Am I the only parent who's read her little "gems" and wondered WTF? If children were really her primary audience, well, methinks she didn't like kids that much. In half the books, the cute little animals who serve as children get switched or beaten. Not saying that there's not a time or place... no, no, kidding. I think. But in a book that you're reading to your child?
The coup de grace came last night when A picked out Miss (or Mrs. or Ms., whatever) Jemima Puddle-duck for me to read for the first time. Not only did the poor damned duck have to go to great lengths to hatch her own eggs, she also was almost eaten by a fox AND saw her eggs eaten by puppy dogs! And then, as if THAT weren't enough, she was finally allowed to hatch seven eggs... but only four of them survived, and the deaths of the other three were blamed on her neglect. I mean... really? Jesus Christ. That's hard enough for an adult (at least this one) to stomach, but a child? A kept wondering why I'd skim a page, mutter something to myself, and improvise. ("Oh, look, the nice fox went away." When in reality, he got EATEN by DOGS.)
Maybe I'm just weak of heart or stomach or something. But in my ever humble opinion, these books suuuuuck.
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3 comments:
Haven't read her books. Thanks for heads up - will skip them. Real kid friendly stuff.
Grim stuff, there. I remember as a first-grader being read a story in class about a boy who was abducted by an evil witch, chopped up, cooked, and served to his unsuspecting sister! Geez!!! Makes Wes Craven look like Disney.
I am seriously going to find a way to write a paper for one of my graduate courses that analyzes these books. If only because I came up with the best paper title ever: "An Analysis of Violent Content in Beatrix Potter's Books: There Will Be Blood."
The sad part is, the illustrations are so pretty... and so misleading...
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