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| peter rabbit and child endangerment |
| 05.30.06 (1:04 pm) [edit] |
A lovely couple very close to my parents recently gave us a boxed set of Beatrix Potter books as a family gift (in honor of Benjamin's birth). They said the Peter Rabbit books were favorites of their children when they were young. "What a lovely gift," I thought.Until we started reading the stories to the kids. Oh, my goodness. We already know I'm kind of a freak about kids' books, but these innocent-looking stories are full of thievery (vegetables, clothing), violence (against lots of animals), and death (Peter's father eaten by the McGregors). "Old Mrs. Rabbit was a widow; she earned her living by knitting rabbit-wool mittens and muffetees (I once bought a pair at a bazaar). She also sold herbs, and rosemary tea, and rabbit-tobacco (which is what WE call lavender)." Oh, sure. Today it's rabbit-tobacco, and tomorrow it's weed. We all know lavender is the original gateway drug. "The cat looked up and saw old Mr. Benjamin Bunny prancing along the top of the wall of the upper terrace. He was smoking a pipe of rabbit-tobacco, and had a little switch in his hand." This is where I had a premonition that things were about to turn ugly. "He took a tremendous jump off the top of the wall on to the top of the cat, and cuffed it off the basket, and kicked it into the garden-house, scratching off a handful of fur." Oh yeah. That can of whup-ass is open, baby. "Then he came back to the basket and took out his son Benjamin by the ears, and whipped him with the little switch." Yep. It's open on little Benjamin Bunny. If I had access to a scanner or could find the image on the 'net, I'd post it for you. There is a beautiful watercolor illustration in the book of Mr. Bunny whipping his kid's furry butt. It's truly creepy. DH and I agreed that these so-called "children's classics" are not for us, so the JT family will be making a donation to anybody else pretty soon. |
posted by: (reply)
post date: 05.30.06 (10:42 am)
but.. the artwork is so LOVELY...
*giggle
posted by: scubadiva (reply)
post date: 05.30.06 (10:51 am)
I have a collector's edition of some of those books with the matching figurines. I supposed they are probably somewhat valuable.
Oh spare me on the thievery, etc with it - it's a children's book. They are classics - it's an opportunity to teach the kids about issues that are wrong - ie stealing, etc. Are we going to start book-burning now?
posted by: JT (reply)
post date: 05.30.06 (10:54 am)
Reply to: scubadiva
Relax, Scubs. I'm not advocating burning. The whole post was meant to be tongue in cheek... we just find some of the imagery kind of disturbing when it's all put together. I grew up on Grimm's and loved them, but things look different when you're a parent.
posted by: scubadiva (reply)
post date: 05.30.06 (10:58 am)
Reply to: JT
Silly wabbit, I was meaning it tongue in cheek too.
Remind me to send you "Heather has 2 Mommies" for the kids next Xmas. :)
posted by: JT (reply)
post date: 05.31.06 (6:37 am)
Reply to: scubadiva
ROTFL! Does "HH2M" include the part where Heather "becomes a woman" and discovers that everyone in the household has their period at the same time?
posted by: scubadiva (reply)
post date: 05.31.06 (9:38 am)
Reply to: JT
Since I don't have any kids, can't tell you what the plotline of the book is. I'm guessing it's about a girl named Heather and she has a mom who has a female companion and they sleep in the same bed. But that's all I will summarize without reading it. I just consulted my library online, and they don't carry it.
posted by: Orange (reply)
post date: 06.04.06 (5:06 am)
My mom gave Ben a bunch of Peter Rabbit/Benjamin Bunny books. They're cute, but I can't say we've ever read them. I'll leave them right where they are on the shelf...
