Friday, April 17, 2009

I'm No Expert But...

I need a second opinion.

I think this book may be misinforming and confusing young minds.  

Care to take a peek?

First:  You will notice that the cover highlights "letters," 
leading you to assume that your child will be exposed to, 
at the very least, colorful A, B and C.  Nope.
 Nowhere in the book is there any mention of "letters."

Second: Since when is "ABACUS" classified as a first word?

Third: Why not just call it a watermelon?  I'm pretty sure that in the US, all other melons have very distinct names, cantaloupe, honeydew... Perhaps there was some sort of licensing trouble with the whole term, watermelon. Hmm. This leads me to a dilemma when I read the book to Jack.  Do I read the word melon, because that is what is written, or do I call it a watermelon, because that is what is pictured? Do I write in "water" before the "melon" or do I just say, "Jack, this is a watermelon.  The word says, 'melon' but the picture is of a watermelon.  I don't know why they did that, but maybe they just didn't know."?  What is a mother to do? (The answer to that is, "As a mother, don't you have better things to worry about?" but I wasn't really asking for an answer, so we'll just move on.)


Fourth: I like to think I am pretty well versed when it comes to fruit.  
And I'm pretty sure these are not peaches, but apricots.  
Anyone with me on this one?

Fifth: This is a kid.  A baby goat.

Sixth:  This is also a kid.  A baby goat.  
Masquerading as a lamb.  
Just because you are white, does not mean you are a lamb.
The fur is all wrong.  The face is all wrong. 
 PEOPLE!  Just take a picture of a lamb! 

What is this world coming to when apricots are called peaces and kids are called lambs?!  You can't see me, but I am shaking my head in sorrow at this very moment.  

...

Despite the erroneous information in this book, Jack is getting smarter by the day.  I hope to have a post of all his new tricks in the very near future.  Maybe even later today!  But I just had to get these things off my chest first.  Thanks for hearing me out friends. I feel better now. 

5 comments:

Ellery said...

Does the book have a farmer? Dad always objected to a book we have by the same people. It showed the farmer in overalls. The legs of the overalls were cut in a jagged way and the farmer wore a rope belt over the overalls. And a dorky straw hat. Not a real farmer.

Seth & Andrea Cook said...

This book is RIDICULOUS! My vote is to just throw it away and find a book that isn't full of misinformation! ;)

Sarah said...

That does seem like a silly book. Although to be fair, since the 'peaches' weren't next to anything and you can't see how big they are, they could conceivably be peaches. Also, one of the first words Maggie ever said was abacus. It comes up all the time. :) Just kidding!

Mrs. Nikki Blockhan said...

My daughter's first word was Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

emilyruth said...

ha ha ha ha ha

:)