One of the things that library school is teaching me is that several books that I enjoyed as a child are actually terrible. The best example is I Love You Forever. Okay, when I think about it, that book is kind of weird. It starts with a mother rocking her baby, eventually moves on to her rocking her grown son, and then finally he sneaks into her house when she's old and rocks her. Plus the repeated message is "I love you forever, I love you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be." A little fatalistic? Maybe. But nevertheless, I liked this book a lot when I was little and remember both my mother reading it to us and reading it to myself. But children's librarians HATE this book. Don't even bring it up to them.
Another one that I sort of liked when I was little, but didn't actually own, is The Giving Tree. Now I did I realize before I got to library school that this book has somewhat of an overly self-sacrificing message, but now it's been reinforced. Children's librarians hate this one too. I agree, but it's still disillusioning. This book makes me feel like how I felt watching the documentary about Disney movies--oh yeah! Beauty and the Beast does teach girls that they can turn their abusers into princes if they are nice enough to them!
Some librarians don't even like The Runaway Bunny. They think it's too smothering. I absolutely loved this book when I was little and I heartily disagree with its detractors. They will not ruin Runaway Bunny for me!
Feel free to let me know your beloved childhood books--I'll be happy to ruin all your childhood happy book memories with more boo hiss librarian opinions!
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2 comments:
wow, i was really afraid you were going to go sexual on the mom rocking her adult child and calling him a baby. instead, people don't like it because it's "fatalistic"? i can definitely live with that.
I remember hearing in grad school that Babar books are bad -- I think because they support colonialism or something? I always loved them. Elephants in pants!
So, I found you...hope you are doing well! Great blog! You are a much better poster than me these days!
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