Skip to main content

Unpopular Review

I just wrote what I think will be a very unpopular review on Amazon for a book called Stephanie's Ponytail by Robert Munsch.  Here's the gist of my review...


When I was in my 20s, I had a conversation with my dad once and he said something that has always stuck in my head. He said that if someone is mean to him, he's going to be mean right back--but even worse. I said, "really?" He asked me if I wouldn't do the same. I replied, "No! Because if someone is hurting me then that means that they feel even worse." Bullying is a big problem right now in schools, but I don't believe that teaching kids to trick bullies (and essentially bully them right back) is the answer. 

None of the negative reviews of this book on Amazon have actually talked about the plot of this book. Stephanie goes to school and kids make fun of her ponytail. The kids say to her "ugly! ugly! ugly!" She calls them "brainless copycats". Being a school teacher, I can just imagine both phrases spreading like wildfire across a K-2 classroom when the teachers aren't present. The successive days she wears her hair in different styles until at the end she says she's going to shave her head and everyone else does it the next day--to make fun of her, but she comes to school with her hair in a ponytail. She laughs and then they all chase after her angrily. 

There is a brand of humor spreading in schools that really concerns me as a parent. How is this book funny? Is it funny to make fun of a child? Is it funny to imitate the Ugly! Ugly! chant? Is it wise to laugh when she tricks them--out of spite--at the end of the book? My girls did not get at all that this book was unkind until I discussed it with them and then it left our house. 

There is a book called Nurture Shock that I highly recommend. In it is a chapter about educational television. Do you think educational television would make children more or less aggressive? The research says... more! What kids really remember is not the conclusion and the resolution, but all the focus on conflict in the middle. I think this book falls into the same category. What are kids really going to remember more about this book? That when someone hits you you should hit back harder? Or that you shouldn't be sassy and make fun of other kids?


If you have a minute and are willing, would you look up this review on Amazon if you agree with me (I am am listed as Anne from Baltimore, MD, a vine voice, and Top 1000 reviewer) and click to say that my review is helpful.  Thank you!  I did just post it so it might not be up yet.  Hopefully, it will be by tomorrow or Sunday.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Comparison of Verses

Tonight I was reading the Mom's Bible again (NCV) and compared this verse: NCV Ephesians 5:22-24 22 Wives, yield to your husbands, as you do to the Lord, 23 because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church. And he is the Savior of the body, which is the church. 24 As the church yields to Christ, so you wives should yield to your husbands in everything. NIV Ephesians 5:22-24 22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. The Message 22-24 Wives, understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ. The husband provides leadership to his wife the way Christ does to his church, not by domineering but by cherishing. So just as the church submits to Christ as he exercises such leadership, wives should likewis...
Post a Comment
Read more

Grieved

Why is it that my generation (I belong to Gen X) and generations after us always seem to think that they know more than the generations that have come before us? Why is there such a lack of respect in our generation for our elders? Why do we think that the liturgy of the church and hymns are irrelevant? It is ironic to me that the emergent movement is saying that the seeker sensitive movement is irrelevant. It seems as if it was only a few years ago when it was the seeker sensitive movement that said to the traditional church that it (the traditional church) was irrelevant. I'm reading a book with all of these big words and I want to be honest--I didn't understand a lot of it. I'm not dumb. I understood most of it, but the author was assuming a lot of background knowledge on the part of the reader. Most of the time I learn deep theological concepts and then I have to store them in my "attic" (as Autumn would say) because there isn't enough room in the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

ESV, NIV, or NASB and then there's the ICB, ESV or NIrV...which should we read?

I am so thankful for my friend's question about the ESV vs. NASB and NIV. I couldn't remember the difference so I went to look it up. I knew that John Piper and Tim Keller, both pastors and authors that I deeply respect have switched over to the ESV. All of the churches that we have attended over the past few years PCA or Reformed Baptist have also switched to the ESV. I did find a blog that explained the differences and that helped me ( http://thefoolishgalatian.wordpress.com/2007/10/22/niv-vs-esv-and-why-piper-switched/ ) I knew why I didn't like the KJV--it was written in the days when writers were paid by a patron and that often slanted the translation. The NKJV, from what I understand, is a revision of the KJV that uses more modern language. Most churches I have attended used the NIV until the ESV came out. The blog I found explained that the ESV is a more literal translation---like the NASB. The NASB is a very literal translation. The ESV has come to be consid...
Post a Comment
Read more