Reviewing the reviews....

[conuly]

Of Knuffle Bunny.

This book also seems like a Manhattan children's book but has no real broad appeal.

1. Brooklyn. Not Manhattan. A quick glimpse at those photos should tell you that much.
2. No broad appeal because of where it's set? Is that what she's saying? Did she just insult my city???? (Well, I suppose there's a reason so few successful children's books are set in New Jersey.)

but what dads are going to overlook the necessity of their childs favorite toy? The way Mo Willems portrayed Trixies dad and his obliviousness to her needs furthers unfair and undesirable stereotypes of fathers.

This would be reasonable, except that I suspect (based on what I've read elsewhere, say in a few articles by the man) that this is based on an actual event in his kid's life.

Which means that Mo Willems is the dad who would overlook the necessity of his child's favorite toy.

And he's not alone. I think every child-watcher makes that mistake at least once. That's how we all learn to never ever ever EVER do that again, dear god no! Or that's how we learned, anyway, before we had nifty books.

But what made me critical about the book is its story; it was derivative and unoriginal. I read the story before. I can't help to compare this book to "Corduroy" and the "Velveteen Rabbit".

Because it features a stuffed animal? One that a. isn't sentient and b. doesn't come to life? What the hell? Geez, every child's life must be derivative. Quick, call the press, Harry Potter is really just a cheesy rip-off of The Oddessy, because it's got, like, magic and shit.

The next one is my favorite:

Yes this is a cute book. Yes it is a kids book. However, as a teacher that teaches children to write narrative stories I have problems with this book. To solve the problem of the missing bunny the father looks for the bunny and can't find it. Then he looks agian. This would cause a child to recieve a lower grade on a writing assignment. I know books are for enjoyment but, they also help children learn to write. I would never use this as an example of how to write a good narrative.

That's it. That's the entire review.

Not to be insulting, but I'm kinda... well... disturbed by the idea that this woman is teaching children to write narrative stories. (And isn't that kinda redundant?)

Maybe that's just me.

This is actually much tamer than the last time I did this. *shrugs*

Comments

[fledchen.livejournal.com]

Yes this is a cute book. Yes it is a kids book. However, as a teacher that teaches children to write narrative stories I have problems with this book. To solve the problem of the missing bunny the father looks for the bunny and can't find it. Then he looks agian. This would cause a child to recieve a lower grade on a writing assignment. I know books are for enjoyment but, they also help children learn to write. I would never use this as an example of how to write a good narrative.

Because, obviously, writers *never* use repetition for narrative effect. ::eyeroll::