That’s not how I remember it: Children’s books

Eric’s parents came to visit us in Portland last year when I was pregnant, and—like they always do—they brought gifts. One of the more thoughtful presents was a heavy stack of Little Golden Books and other titles Eric grew up with.

The Digging-est Dog“Oh, I loved this one!” Eric said, picking up The Digging-est Dog. I’d never read it, so of course I cracked it. While the rest of the family talked, I read.

And cried.

Granted, I was pregnant and had more emotions than should be legal, but the story was heartbreaking. (Spoiler: I’m going to tell you exactly why.)

The book starts out with a dog chained in a store sitting on a concrete floor.

Then it is taken home by a boy—yay!—only to endure abuse from the other dogs because it never learned to dig. You know, because it spent its entire life living on a concrete floor.

Anyway, it goes on to learn how to dig but it digs so much that it ruins the town with all the tunnels and is ostracized yet again. There’s probably an eventual happy ending but I can’t even recall it, so scarred was I by the ongoing trauma of that poor dog.

Goes without saying that I haven’t read The Digging-est Dog to Peeper yet.

Anyway, the other day I heard a story on NPR about The Little Engine That Could and the arguments about gender it inspires today. (Apparently the engine in question is a she, which makes some people think it was changed by liberal apologists, which it wasn’t; other critics say it’s one more example of women taking on more than their share of the work; still others view it as the great-grandmother to the lean-in movemement. Me, I just remember it being about a train.)

JuliusThe story got me thinking about how looking back on children’s books (or movies, TV shows, music and the like) shows an entirely different story than the one we remember.

Now that I’m reading a ton of kids’ books to Peeper, I see the stories with new eyes. For example, Julius, a  present my dad inscribed to me on my fourth birthday, now smacks of racism, colonialism, imperialism and probably a few more -isms I’m forgetting.

If I read it to Peeper, would she just hear a story about a friendly gorilla? Or would she internalize the subtle attitudes that imply Indians are sub-human and that it’s acceptable to plunder other countries’ natural resources?

Ok, so perhaps I’m reading more into it than I need to. Or maybe I’m not. I do my best to show Peeper books with positive messages that align with our values.

Do you “edit” your kids’ reading material? Is there a book you reread that seemed totally different through your adult lenses?

0 thoughts on “That’s not how I remember it: Children’s books

  • July 14, 2014 at 9:38 am
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    I remember LOVING the Tintin books when I was in elementary school, and now I look at them and shudder. Babar also makes me pretty uncomfortable now but I adored those books when I was little. Not sure how/what I’ll edit once we have kids, but I will probably be sure to at least read through the book before cracking it open at story time!

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  • July 14, 2014 at 11:54 am
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    I haven’t heard of these books. I read goodnight moon! and Velveteen Rabbit. I would be afraid to re-read in hopes that my old thoughts would change on how much I loved them!

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  • July 14, 2014 at 12:33 pm
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    Wow, I never thought about rereading those old children books… I’ll have to take a look, but it totally makes sense there are more subtexts that may need editing or explaining. One thing I do like about older stories though is that it’s not always a happy world, and there are troubles that characters encounter that are learning opportunities about the real world.

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    • July 14, 2014 at 2:55 pm
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      Pech, that’s a good point. I wonder if using some of these books as an opportunity to discuss, say, discrimination would be a good tool for learning about equality and such—at least when the kids are older and can understand those discussions.

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  • July 14, 2014 at 3:14 pm
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    How interesting. I havent reread my favorite kids books in a long time. When I was a nanny I did read a lot of Dr Seuss and I still liked them.

    I read somewhere that Roald Dahl was dirty and that snozberries were boy parts. O.o You never know what a true meaning of something is in a book!

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    • July 14, 2014 at 3:17 pm
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      I’ve never heard that about Roald Dahl! He’s my all-time-fave, though, and I reread them all the time. To my mind, they really hold up even years and years after they were first published.

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  • July 16, 2014 at 12:50 pm
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    My parents still had my copy of Julius and gave it to us with a bunch of my other children’s books and I can’t tell you how quickly that book ended up in the giveaway pile. My husband and I sat down to read it with our daughter one day and about two pages in we looked at each other and said “Edith, let’s choose a different book to read”.

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    • July 16, 2014 at 8:11 pm
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      I’m leaning toward that, too, but am held back by being nostalgic because of the inscription. Oh, sentiments!

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