Our local dollar store has a book section. I've found some pretty good books there for myself and I always check the children's books as well, hoping for something to interest my two little grandsons.
Recently I found a kids' book about a little mouse who hears a lot of strange noises after he's in bed for the night, and the noises scare him. Eventually he lets out a frightened cry, and his mama comes quickly to his bed and explains what all the noises were. He is comforted by her explanations and soon the only noise is the snoring of the little mouse as he falls fast asleep.
The illustrations were lovely; I was completely captivated by them.
And the story line addressed a common cause of children's fears.
I felt there was a slight problem with it, though.
The first noise the little mouse heard turned out to be an owl. The mama mouse said the owl was "singing".
But ...
. . . OWLS EAT MICE. Quite reliably, in fact.
Mama Mouse missed a very important part of educating her son about the dangers around him.
I don't blame her. She only did what the author made her do.
What was the author thinking? What was the publisher thinking?
As much as I loved the illustrations, I did not get this book for my grandsons. I don't want to be the one to cause trauma when they realize Mr. Owl wasn't "singing", he was hunting . . . 😬
Apologies to Charlotte (Mother Owl) and I hope she realizes this post is 99% tongue-in-cheek 😀
21 comments:
Perhaps the author felt that with mother and baby mouse both safely in their home, the owl could not get to them so they were safe.
Perhaps the little mouse was simply too young to be told the truth about such a frightening thing yet? We don't warn human children about things like school shootings and Catholic priests until they're old enough to cope with the concepts, or they really need to know.
Sigh. Big sigh. What a shame that a book that could potentially have been wonderful was let down. Badly.
Yes, well depending on their age, there have always been some horrific books for children.
No ofence taken here. I hear the "singing" owls almost every nigth when I lie in my bed, and think of rats and mice, and the occasional frog :( being eaten.
A good mama owl warns her owlets about the dangers in the nigth as well!
I often think some authors (and possibly publishers too) should be forced to live for at least a week on a farm or some such place to learn about some of the facts of nature ;)
The owl is hoping to have the mouse in cheek.
Owls eat rodents so reliably that a friend of mine once made some good money building houses for them that farmers set up on posts near their vulnerable crops. He called them "owl boxes" and there were so many of them when he was done had to rent a U-Haul to deliver them.
-Doug in Sugar Pine
That photo is hilarious! Cat wants the mouse for lunch!
Probably singing "I'm coming to get you, little mouse". The baby's smarter than the mom, I'd say!
I will call this post brilliant and thought provoking dear Jenny.
I love children books. The illustrations would fascinate me to the core and sense of connection with them would. make my eyes teary with serene joy.
I still have have many that my eldest had gifted to his younger brothers.
Our dollar store don't have books not even for kids sadly.
I am quite sad and disappointed with irresponsible behaviour of writers and publishers who write text books here in Sindh province specially. Because of copy culture ignorance has occupied the important seats and books coming from them are literally scary and harmful for students with raw fresh mentally. It is impossible to find any sentence with correct grammar or reliable information unfortunately.
I too would have not bought a book with the information that can mislead a child. But if I was there. Here I have no choice.
River: Maybe ... and bedtime is not the right time to talk about danger!
Infidel753: Well, you have a point there :)
Elephant's Child: I don't think I'm easily offended or overly critical, but this omission struck me as a glaring one :)
Andrew: That's true, unfortunately!
Charlotte: I'm glad you see both sides and didn't feel offended. You've made a good point about authors needing to understand what they're writing about. Even in the town where I live, when the windows are open at night I will occasionally hear some small thing squeaking terribly and then ... silence ... and I'm sad about the circle of life. Of course, as pointed out by other commenters, maybe bedtime wouldn't be the right time to educate a child :)
Mike: Hah!! And yes :)
Doug: Wow - an unusual job to have! And I wish it didn't have to be done, but it does.
Marie: LOL - I never thought of that photo that way, but it would be reasonable to suspect that :)
Boud: Exactly :)
baili: That is really unfortunate. Children soak up everything they see, hear, and read. Parents should be able to rely on the truth when they choose educational books for their children!
That author was thinking like a human, not a mouse!
I laughed (ruefully) at this! I hate it when an otherwise good book of any genre gets spoiled by one wrong note. But I guess at least the author succeeded in raising some existential questions for readers. Not exactly what we usually expect from children's bedtime stories... ;-)
The author might say that warning the baby of danger at this time would have ruined the point of the story, that the noises were explainable and nothing to be unduly worried about at that moment.
Still i get that using an owl's hooting in a story about mice wasn't very appropriate.
And I was hoping you found one of my favorite kids books about Curious George. It's a great series.
A shame that good illustrations were expended on a questionable book. A child would easily believe what it's being read, take it for a lovely truth and be so upset to learn it's a false statement.
Steve: Yes, but not a human familiar with owls' eating habits - lol
Diane: I imagine the author would be surprised if he or she found the book being discussed on a random blog! ha ha
Mimi: Yes, well put. I was trying to think of another animal that would be nocturnal and could have been used as an example instead of the owl. Maybe a deer crashing through the woods :)
Red: I loved Curious George stories when I was a kid too!
Joanne: That's just what I was thinking. Sooner or later, reality would intrude :)
I'm wondering why the author would choose an owl for the outside noise? It just doesn't make sense. Perhaps the story was written by an owl :)
Martha: Oh, now we're getting somewhere in answer the title question!! lol
I just know that I've been guilty of telling a different story to the child I'm trying to lull to sleep than the one who's sitting with me at breakfast.
Although the trauma probably adds up to the same thing... Oops.
Diane: Timing is important with the traumatizing stuff :)
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