Bad Children’s Books

This is a list of books that we really really did not like for a really good reason.  Some of the reasons may be: inappropriate themes for age, rudeness or undisciplined disobedience of main characters, characters who are bad examples for one reason or another or inappropriate world view.  I will list the book and a short description of the reason we will never read it again.

#2 – Gullible’s Troubles by Margaret Shannon – This book was full of inappropriate behavior by the adults of the story who should have known better.  The adults lied to Gullible to get rid of him so they did not have to deal with him.  Unkind deceptive behavior!  Then there is this issue of whether or not monsters really exist that confused my 4 yr old quite a bit.  Overall not a good book because the supposed “humor” is too far above the intended audience and the other more obvious concepts are not the ones that you want your child to see in a positive light.

#1 – The Sleeping Rose by Angela Elwell Hunt – The reviews on Amazon state that this book is good because it teaches about servant hood and putting others before yourself.  I will agree that as an adult I saw that this is what the author was trying to do.  However the story was not very well put together.  The plot was confusing at best and misleading at worst.

A man who lives in the country with his wife and two children has this rose that blooms the first day of may every year.  One year things are different.  For one the King invites him to bring his rose for everyone to see and a beggar shows up in his garden.  Now, this beggar is depicted as Jesus.  The man shoos him away.  Some time later when the man sees that the rose is not opening on time as it should he begins to think and remembers the beggar.  He then feels bad, goes to find him and gives him a meal.  When it comes time to see the King the rose is still closed and the man goes before the king empty handed.  What do you think happens next??  You got it!  The beggar, a.k.a. Jesus shows up with the rose and proclaims that the man was so good to him and here is the rose in full bloom and is the most beautiful thing anyone has ever seen.

Now, here is my problem.  First it seemed to me that the man only remembered the beggar because his rose did not bloom.  Second, I got the impression that the rose did not bloom because he was mean to the beggar.  This is just not how things work!  The gospel is not a tit for tat.  In fact it is the exact opposite.  Jesus loved us when we were unlovable.  He saved us when we could not save ourselves.  When the man finally realizes what he has done wrong and finds the beggar (I will agree this was a good thing to do) he is “rewarded” by having his rose bloom.  This just does not seem like a good message either.  All in all I found this story to convey a works based salvation and the illustrations to be a bit creepy as well.  While the message may have been subtle I will not read it again to my children.  In fact I won’t even sell it in my yard sale.  I threw it away!  Oh’ and Jesus just doesn’t show up on your door step either… yes, some have entertained angels unaware but now a days they are very well disguised and do not have nail scares on their hands… again, creepy!