Our family takes its comics very seriously, as Amy mentions here.
I enjoy reading Luann most days and want to shake her when she goes gaga over Aaron Hill and all that, but I am normally not as "into" Luann as I am Stone Soup or For Better or for Worse.
However, I am much more into Luann lately since she and Gunther have been reading to the kids at the library and having this conversation about The Poky Little Puppy.
Luann thinks it's a wonderful book. Gunther doesn't get it.
Years ago, my mother-in-law gave Matt a copy of The Poky Little Puppy. We didn't have many books for the kids back then, or access to more, and the children loved it, so I read that book so often I can still quote much of it from memory. "Five little puppies dug a hole under the fence and went for a walk in the wide, wide world. Down the road, over the bridge, across the green grass, and up the hill, one after the other . . ."
I don't normally court controversy on this blog, but let me say that I DO NOT LIKE that book. It is stupid, senseless, tasteless, boring beyond description, sick, weak, dreadful, dumb, silly, and did I mention stupid?"
Oh, and cutesy and pasty and based on false doctrine too.
Why my children liked it, or how it ever got to be this "wonderful children's classic" are beyond me.
I remember the joy I felt when I finally threw it away, after the children outgrew it.
I am never giving it to my grandchildren. Never.
Quote of the Day:
Me: (messing with a candle) Ooooo, you drowned in wax again. Don't do that!
Emily: You're talking to a wick?? Is any stationary object safe?? 'Oooh, you're burning again! Sorry I have to blow you out, dear flame!'
Me: Humph!
So true! I loved this story as a child, but I think it's only because I remembered the chocolate custard and the strawberry shortcake, etc. I read it a couple of years ago to my littles and they loved it too--_I_ hated it though. How had it developed this horrible, nauseating plotline?
ReplyDeleteSo weird what 25 years will do.
Amy
Strange books read in childhood pop up in one's memory so much quicker than books read later. I do remember thinking it was a strange story, but read it umpteen times to my younger siblings anyway.
ReplyDeleteoh my! i would love to read that book again. i loved that book.
ReplyDeletesorry, that was me, forgot to sign my name.
ReplyDeletebethany
I always had this terrorized fascination for Hansel And Gretel, when I was a child. My mom threw it away. What is it with moms pitching our favorite fairy tales? :)
ReplyDeleteIn our house, the cartoon ZITS is mt favorite. It's about a teenage boy and it's as if the cartoonist has a spycam in our house! I cut out his comic strip and put it on the fridge at last once a week because it's so appropriate.
ReplyDeleteIn our house the classics were, "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein and "The Spooky Old Tree" by Stan & Jan Berenstein.
My kids didn't care for the Pokey Puppy book like they did these.
Connie
The Pokey Puppy and Bad theology? I laughed with you at the very idea. But in all fairness, please name for me one famous childrens book with GOOD theology (besides The Biggest Bear, of course...)! The Brother's Grimm or Mother Goose maybe !?!
ReplyDeleteBut there ARE interesting ideas in The Pokey Little Puppy that resonate with all kids (and adults) at some level - which is why I think kids books make it big:
- doing the right thing for the wrong reason (and thus being the wrong thing);
- consequences and punishments for doing wrong,
- the extreme length one will go to to try and get away with what one shouldn't be doing anyway;
- take time to NOTICE things around us (in todays lingo, stop to smell the roses),
and many other ideas we as adults could stand to read again...
Uncle Rod
wow. didnt know you could draw so much "theology" from a book like that.
ReplyDeletepersonally, i like Frog & Toad. now there's a great example on true friendship.
I'm so glad you wrote this post. I've been reading "The Poky Little Puppy" to my 1 1/2 year old son and have been wondering--Am I the only one who thinks this "classic" children's book has a strange story line? It makes no sense at all!
ReplyDeleteJenny
Just wanted to say I received your two books as a Christmas gift from my hubby and did as you said not to--I read them quite a few stories at one time, instead of here and there. I was sick over Christmas, so that helped me recover. =]
ReplyDeleteThanks for two good, down to earth readings!
My husband brought home one of your books the other day. I stayed up late reading the first night and got nothing done the next day until I'd finished reading it! Then today I discovered I'd missed a chapter. . . bliss! Thanks for putting your "life" out there for sale! Also, we just remembered that we sat across from you and your husband at Brendon & Ruby's wedding. (We were engaged then.) What an odd thing to remember this long after! Anyway, I enjoyed the book!
ReplyDelete