Children's books gone horribly, horribly wrong

by: Vanessa Farquharson

At some point in the past decade, the demand for children's books offering uncharacteristically blunt guidance on issues related to everything from social issues to bodily functions has surged. Forget all the nuanced subtext of a story like The Velveteen Rabbit or the meaningful imagery in Robert Munsch's I'll Love You Forever; bring on stuff like The Gas We Pass: The Story of Farts. But has this trend gone a little too far? Some of the kids' fare coming out today verges on disturbing, as this blog post by Kim Hartman keenly illustrates, summing up 12 Bizarre Kids Books You Won't Buy, which include It Hurts When I Poop, I Wish Daddy Didn't Drink So Much, Who Cares About Disabled People? (a follow-up to Who Cares About Elderly People?) and A Scary Thing Happened, a colouring book full of images of natural disaster, with a cover featuring a child's rendering of 9/11. Obviously, publishers realize the importance of literary tools in potty-training children and teaching them about puberty and where babies come from, but colouring in an image of the twin towers burning to the ground? Yeesh.

From: National Post