Life of Fred Dogs: Reply from author Stanley F. Schmidt

[Jay3fer]

After reading this thread a few weeks ago, I emailed the author to ask about the euthanasia references in LOF: Dogs.

Here is his verbatim reply:

 

No animals suffer or die in any of the Life of Fred books. I have no way of going through the book and selecting the pages and getting them to you. [i had asked to see a scan of the pages in question so I could see for myself if it was appropriate for my kids]

The easiest way is our 30-day no-quibble guarantee (if you order through our web site (PolkaDotPublishing.com and Z-Twist Books). The material in Life of Fred: Dogs is much less disturbing than Disney's Bambi or the book The Yearling, which I read as a kid.

You can judge for yourself when you have the book in hand. Skipping any lessons in the book that you child would find too difficult would be one solution.

Here are the topics covered in the book . . .

 

(you can find the topic list on the book's website)

 

Anyway, I'm not entirely satisfied, but there is that unconditional guarantee if you order straight from him. And I thought, while I'm all excited about LOF this week, that I'd share this with others who might still be wondering...

[junepep]

Thank you Jen, I'm not sure that you saw Andrea's painstaking work to tease out the relevant passages in the other thread, it seems to track very much with his reply to you.

 

Personally, I would put this a bit below the Bambi or Babar level myself where the mother is murdered before their child's eyes, but still at a -- nice know before you read

 

I would like to give you quotes from the following chapter so that you can read for yourself how the material is presented.

It seems to me that the underlying lesson is understanding the consequences of making decisions for emotional reasons without considering the time cost, labor cost, personal cost, money cost. This emotional issue and Fred’s tender heart show the difficulty of these decisions. IMO.

 

First of all in Chapter 13, We learn from a newspaper article that the shelter has been overrun with dogs. The article says,

In December the shelter received 50 dogs and the public only adopted 20.

In January many people had spent so much money on Christmas presents that they could not afford to keep their dogs.

“It’s cruel,” said Mrs. Hund, “To keep so many dogs in so few cages. Today at 1 p.m. we will have to put 30 of them to sleep.”

Fred was in a panic. He was only five years old, and he didn’t realize that animal shelters often have to euthanize dogs and cats when not enough people come to adopt them.

 

In Ch. 14, Fred immediately runs down to the shelter to adopt the dogs but is confronted with the reality that it costs money. Undeterred, Fred makes another plan.

Fred said, “I’ve got to borrow $300 in order to save the 30 dogs.”

He calls his friends to ask for help, but neither Betty nor Alexander answer.

In Ch. 15, Kingie offers to lend Fred the money and Fred runs back to the shelter, only to find out that he is too late.

Fred cried.

Mrs. Hund leaned over and put her hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay. I’m sorry you were too late. Just five minutes ago....”

Fred sobbed.

“Just five minutes ago, a tall fellow and his girlfriend, (sic) came in. They each adopted 15 of the dogs.”

Mrs. Hund continued, “They went around to the back of the building to pick up their dogs. They said they were students at the university. Do you know them? Their names were Alexander and Betty.”

 

In Ch 16, Fred talks with Betty and Alexander.

Betty explained to Fred, “I know this seems silly--our getting thirty dogs from the animal shelter. We read in the KITTEN Caboodle newspaper about their putting these dogs to sleep and decided to help.”

She told Fred how they got their checkbooks and headed to the animal shelter.

 

In Ch 17, Fred enjoys walking the dogs, particularly one dog. Betty gives the dog to Fred and he names her Ralph. Fred brings Ralph home to his office.

[I]Kingie was in the office doing his usual thing. Fred said, “Shut your eyes. I have a surprise for you.”

Kingie shut his eyes, hoping that it wasn’t another cat.

Ralph came up to Kingie and gave him a lick. Kingie tasted a little like butter.”[/i]

 

Chapter 18 is titled “One Becomes 30.” Betty comes back to Fred’s office with bad news. Neither her apartment nor Alexander’s place allows dogs. Darlene and Joe can’t take the dogs, either. Fred decides he will take all the dogs.

Betty and Alexander thanked Fred. Alexander shook Fred’s hand and said, “You’re a good man.” Betty kissed Fred on the cheek.

Then they left, feeling very relieved that they had found a home for all those dogs.

Fred begins to care for the dogs--which takes a long time. He also gets the message from Kingie that Kingie does not want to take care of the dogs.

 

Finally, in Ch. 19, Fred begins to think about what it means to be the master of a dog. He really thinks it through. And the quote below is how the book ends.

 

..It will lick your hand. It will fetch the ball you throw. It looks up to you. You are the leader. You are the head wolf. (No one has ever figured out how to be a leader for cats.)

If you can’t be president, or policeman, or a cloud that rains on everybody, at least you can own a dog.

The “problem” with Fred is that he didn’t want to be president and rule over other people. He needed love--as everyone does--but he didn’t need 30 dogs to give him dog love. He knew that God loved him and that he had friends who loved him.

But he didn’t have ten hours each day to walk those dogs. He didn’t have money to feed them or get dog licenses.

He phoned everyone he knew and asked them if they would like a dog. No one did.

 

He took Ralph and the other 29 dogs back to the animal shelter. And he cried.

[Elizabeth in MN]

Uh, if my daughter read that she'd cry for an hour and be depressed for a week.

[NittanyJen]

The E book should be out soon. I am waiting to see what actually happens to the dogs. Maybe they are euthanized. It didn't actually say so.

[LAS in LA]

The E book should be out soon. I am waiting to see what actually happens to the dogs. Maybe they are euthanized. It didn't actually say so.

:iagree: I was wondering about this, too.

[Cindyg]

Oh my gosh!! I had no idea this was going on in LOF Dogs! (My LOF student is 14.)

 

Seriously, I teared up reading Andrea's synopsis of Ch. 15. The tension! (This would have *really* bothered my LOF student when he was the appropriate age for this book.)

 

Ch. 19 has a good message. I would have been fine with the outcome had it not been for the last line. Dang it! Why not have some sort of a happy ending?! It doesn't have to be realistic! (Wait 'til you get to the book where Fred builds a robot who basically comes to life.)

 

(There's no way I would have made a children's book about the realities of the animal shelter. When I heard the title was "Dogs," I assumed it would be warm and fuzzy.)

[Jay3fer]

You're right, June, I never saw that. Seems sneaky, saying no animals suffer or die IN the book when the very last line implies that 30 unwanted dogs are very probably (if you have any knowledge of probability math by this point) going to die the second the book is over.

 

It's a bit of a downer for such a perky series. :-(

Maybe he'll come out with LOF Elephants and fix the whole thing up!!! :-)

[PhotoGal]

Ugh. I'm sorry, but I thought Life of Fred is supposed to be funny?

 

So basically it is saying you can take on the responsibility for pets and if you can't handle it, just give them back? That's not a message I would want to give my kids.

 

Why? Why choose to write it like that? I don't get it.

 

You would think this genius kid who is a math professor could think of a more creative solution than just bringing the dogs back, right? Even if he does solve it in the next book, why leave all these young readers hanging like that? Ick.

 

I know there are a lot of LoF lovers here, but honestly I don't get it.

[zoo_keeper]

I've been searching my mailbox for my response from the author (I emailed him a few weeks back to voice my displeasure at the unnecessarily upsetting topic in the "D" book), but I can't find it - I must have deleted it. Essentially, he said that the books were geared for an older audience (my eldest is 6), implying that the content wouldn't have been so unsettling if I had just waited a few more years. Given that my eldest's disposition has been slanted towards the sensitive side for some time now, I doubt it!

 

While I'm disappointed in his lack of empathy, (sigh) it won't stop me from getting book "C" (and probably "E" on). The girls just love it so much...

[deerforest]

I had an email exchange with him when I started the thread. I am not comfortable posting it here but it confirmed that I will be unlikely to purchase more of his materials.

 

He told me that the dogs are not mentioned in Book E which leaves the whole thing unsettled and would just disturb my DD even more... but at least E isn't for Euthanasia.

 

For the record, we don't do Disney either, and I am very uncomfortable with folks who justify actions based on others.

[nmoira]

No animals suffer or die in any of the Life of Fred books.

 

Fred's pet llama dies in, I think, Trigonometry. Of starvation and exhaustion IIRC.

[zoo_keeper]

Fred's pet llama dies in, I think, Trigonometry. Of starvation and exhaustion IIRC.

 

What??? Why? How does that happen? I understand that by the time students reach trig that they're much older than my 6 year old and are presumably less affected emotionally by such situations, but how does the death of a pet llama add to Fred's story?

[Mommy22alyns]

The E book should be out soon. I am waiting to see what actually happens to the dogs. Maybe they are euthanized. It didn't actually say so.

 

 

"E is for Euthanasia, children. Can you say 'euthanasia'?" :001_huh:

[pgr]

As much as we are loving Apples.... Has anyone seen his "personal website"?

 

I don't doubt that he's a terrific mathemetician, nor that he presents information in a nontraditional, engaging way. It does seem, however, that there's also something disturbing going on inside :001_huh:.

[zoo_keeper]

As much as we are loving Apples.... Has anyone seen his "personal website"?

 

I don't doubt that he's a terrific mathemetician, nor that he presents information in a nontraditional, engaging way. It does seem, however, that there's also something disturbing going on inside :001_huh:.

 

Great, now I'm afraid to look... :(

[mommymilkies]

I had to read this after I ordered Apples. :(

 

But I was thinking the same thing as Mommy22alyns "E is for Euthanasia". Looks like I'll have to sell my Fred books that are coming or tell the kids they can't have D or E.

[mommymilkies]

As much as we are loving Apples.... Has anyone seen his "personal website"?

 

I don't doubt that he's a terrific mathemetician, nor that he presents information in a nontraditional, engaging way. It does seem, however, that there's also something disturbing going on inside :001_huh:.

 

Can you link me?

[pgr]

Great, now I'm afraid to look... :(

 

Sorry! It's not that terrible - I clicked on "paintings" and got lots of black with some red, titled "Death turns the page". There seems to be a lot of death overtones in general...

 

Yes, death is a natural and inevitable part of life (I've worked in an ICU in a past life). Yet it seems he's got some unresolved issues haunting him. That's the impression I get, anyway. Sylvia Plath comes to mind. I don't know him at all and have no right to judge or make any declarations about him one way or another. This is my subjective impression, which could be totally off base.

 

I do reserve the right to make a choice in using his material or not. Honestly, I somehow feel creeped out enough that I doubt I'll be using anymore LOF to teach my young children. Too bad - the math really is good.

[pgr]

Can you link me?

 

I'm on my phone and nAK; I will try to come back and link when I have more than a single thumb - the link is on the polka dot pub page - I thin it's stanleyschmidt.com?

 

Sorry!

[EKS]

As much as we are loving Apples.... Has anyone seen his "personal website"?

 

I don't doubt that he's a terrific mathemetician, nor that he presents information in a nontraditional, engaging way. It does seem, however, that there's also something disturbing going on inside :001_huh:.

 

:iagree:

[zoo_keeper]

I think I may go hide my head under my pillow and plug my ears. My girls love the books so much that, unless more disturbing content shows up, I would like to continue cherry-picking parts of the series.

[tadbhoward]

Sorry! It's not that terrible - I clicked on "paintings" and got lots of black with some red, titled "Death turns the page". There seems to be a lot of death overtones in general...

 

Yes, death is a natural and inevitable part of life (I've worked in an ICU in a past life). Yet it seems he's got some unresolved issues haunting him. That's the impression I get, anyway. Sylvia Plath comes to mind. I don't know him at all and have no right to judge or make any declarations about him one way or another. This is my subjective impression, which could be totally off base.

 

I do reserve the right to make a choice in using his material or not. Honestly, I somehow feel creeped out enough that I doubt I'll be using anymore LOF to teach my young children. Too bad - the math really is good.

 

 

If you look in the upper right hand corner you can see the "front page - death" pulling back to show some sunny blue behind it. It does not seem creepy. It does seem in line with his Christian views of life after death though.

 

He does seem a little oddballish in a goofy strange sort of way.

[LittleIzumi]

It will be E for Edgewood. :) Not euthanasia.

[Cindyg]

I truly loved pre algebra with economics.

 

not loving algebra so much

 

(Posting at the iPhone store on an unfamiliar iPhone keyboard)

[Jay3fer]

not loving algebra so much

 

To be fair (and ornery), I totally LOVED the algebra book, and found it the most lucid explanation of algebraic concepts I have ever seen - and I have done algebra twice from high school dc's textbooks as well as my own experience in university.

 

Still maybe not a CORE curriculum, but as a supplement - wow. Not everybody's cup of tea, I guess, but if you're having trouble getting concepts across, I'd still recommend trying Fred.

[Stellalarella]

When I have spent time on his personal website, and by time, I mean enough time to read quite a few things, this is what I experienced.

 

First, I laughed at the Santa parachuting down and getting caught on a pine tree. No death.

 

Next, I laughed out loud at the Christmas poem "Reservations Encouraged." No death.

 

Then I rifled through the "Prayers at 8:30" and enjoyed the depth of these very short, very simple little prayers. In fact, our whole family has enjoyed them. My husband actually started reading one each morning for our devotion, then matching it up with a scripture and playing a song. And no, we do not read Sylvia Plath for morning devotions, black shoe, black shoe.

 

OK, so then I just laughed again when I realized that Stan Schmidt had done TV shoes for public TV. What in the world? I did not watch them, but just the thought of it cracked me up.

 

I really am having a hard time agreeing with the opinion that Stanley Schmidt is a death obsessed math teacher.

 

But if someone applied that same reasoning to me, maybe they would accuse me of being a Sylvia Plath homeschool teacher! Oliver Twist! The 30 Years War! Life of Fred! The hawk that swooped down in front of my children and nabbed a dove they were trying to save! Natural Selection!!

Do you know what my kids are studying in history this week? SOTW history? They are going to learn about the BLACK PLAGUE and the BURNING OF LONDON. They are actually currently building a giant paper replica of London which the 13yo ds is going to set on FIRE with FIREWORKS.

 

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

 

Death be not proud

Though some have called thee mighty and dreadful!!!!

 

:001_smile:

[LAS in LA]

When I have spent time on his personal website, and by time, I mean enough time to read quite a few things, this is what I experienced.

 

First, I laughed at the Santa parachuting down and getting caught on a pine tree. No death.

 

Next, I laughed out loud at the Christmas poem "Reservations Encouraged." No death.

 

Then I rifled through the "Prayers at 8:30" and enjoyed the depth of these very short, very simple little prayers. In fact, our whole family has enjoyed them. My husband actually started reading one each morning for our devotion, then matching it up with a scripture and playing a song. And no, we do not read Sylvia Plath for morning devotions, black shoe, black shoe.

 

OK, so then I just laughed again when I realized that Stan Schmidt had done TV shoes for public TV. What in the world? I did not watch them, but just the thought of it cracked me up.

 

I really am having a hard time agreeing with the opinion that Stanley Schmidt is a death obsessed math teacher.

 

But if someone applied that same reasoning to me, maybe they would accuse me of being a Sylvia Plath homeschool teacher! Oliver Twist! The 30 Years War! Life of Fred! The hawk that swooped down in front of my children and nabbed a dove they were trying to save! Natural Selection!!

Do you know what my kids are studying in history this week? SOTW history? They are going to learn about the BLACK PLAGUE and the BURNING OF LONDON. They are actually currently building a giant paper replica of London which the 13yo ds is going to set on FIRE with FIREWORKS.

 

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

 

Death be not proud

Though some have called thee mighty and dreadful!!!!

 

:001_smile:

 

:lol:

[nmoira]

To be fair (and ornery), I totally LOVED the algebra book, and found it the most lucid explanation of algebraic concepts I have ever seen - and I have done algebra twice from high school dc's textbooks as well as my own experience in university.

I like the high school books too; Geometry is my least favourite, but I don't like the way geometry is done in the US, so I started out biased. :tongue_smilie: Love, love, love LOF: Trigonometry. DD the Elder is working through LOF: Beginning Algebra and the original AoPS books.

[nmoira]

What??? Why? How does that happen? I understand that by the time students reach trig that they're much older than my 6 year old and are presumably less affected emotionally by such situations, but how does the death of a pet llama add to Fred's story?

Good things don't happen to Fred, ever, except as a prelude to disaster.

 

ETA: It's part of the charm of the story. :tongue_smilie:

[Stellalarella]

Good things don't happen to Fred, ever, except as a prelude to disaster.

 

ETA: It's part of the charm of the story. :tongue_smilie:

 

Now that I think about it, I think you are right.

 

Shades of Lemony Snicket and his Series of Unfortunate Events?

 

Maybe Lemony Snicket wrote LOF!!! COuld someone do a comparison of the shadow picture of Lemony Snicket and the picture in Butterflies of "happy Stan taking a Nap?"

 

I think maybe I will go paint a dark painting to show the depths of my wrongness.

 

But only after I order Foersters Algebra 1 because DS13 is finally admitting that he needs some drill and kill to supplement his beloved LOF Algbra.

[pgr]

If you look in the upper right hand corner you can see the "front page - death" pulling back to show some sunny blue behind it. It does not seem creepy. It does seem in line with his Christian views of life after death though.

 

He does seem a little oddballish in a goofy strange sort of way.

 

This I did not see when I looked at the site on my phone - that does alter the painting.

 

This is the link: http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/

 

Overall, I will reiterate that I posted my subjective impression. I am not making generalizations, even as my own study the black plague. :001_smile:

[Storm Bay]

Fred's pet llama dies in, I think, Trigonometry. Of starvation and exhaustion IIRC.

The llama dies because it had been so poorly cared for by its previous owner, but it's a Trig book, so the vast majority of students who are going to be reading it ought to be able to handle a pet dying, IMO.

 

After reading this thread a few weeks ago, I emailed the author to ask about the euthanasia references in LOF: Dogs.

Here is his verbatim reply:

(you can find the topic list on the book's website)

 

Anyway, I'm not entirely satisfied, but there is that unconditional guarantee if you order straight from him. And I thought, while I'm all excited about LOF this week, that I'd share this with others who might still be wondering...

 

Which book is dogs? Is this one of the pre-Algebra books? I haven't heard of this.

 

And, to the poster who mentioned that great things never happen to Fred except as a prelude to disaster, that isn absolutely correct. He hasn't had a great life. He didn't have a good father, and I can't remember what happened to his mother (did she die?) Just think about a 6 year old boy living alone in his office at Kittens for a minute--who is there to hug him or tuck him in at night?

 

Most dc could handle this in a story, but not all.

[vontinney]

Which book is dogs? Is this one of the pre-Algebra books? I haven't heard of this.

 

 

 

Dogs is the 4th book in the new Elementary Series

[Storm Bay]

Dogs is the 4th book in the new Elementary Series

Thanks. Since my kids are older now, we won't be buying the Elementary series, but it's good to know about this issue in case it comes up.

[Guest submarines]

Uh, if my daughter read that she'd cry for an hour and be depressed for a week.

 

:iagree: I'm so glad I saw this thread. We enjoyed Apples and Butterflies with DS, and I was planning on ordering more.

 

IMHO, it *Is* worse than Bambi or Babar, or any fairytale. Every fairytale, by definition, is quite removed from a child's life. Many evoke an emotional response, but there's a buffer zone there. That's why most fairy tales are quite 'safe' in terms of allowing a child to experience emotions (which is healthy) in a safe environment. No matter how sad about Babar's mother's death, they knew it was a story. Besides, the books are not focused on that--in fact, there are only 3-4 lines describing the event (though the picture is disturbing.)

 

But it is still not the same as reading about the conditions of animal shelters. This is not a story about talking elephants! This is all very real and part of a child's life. Besides, it seems that so many chapters focus on this issue, and the ending is depressing in itself.

 

Yes, I want to shield my children from knowing that dogs are routinely euthenised, until they are older than the recommended age for LOF Dogs!

 

I did find the LOF books quite moralistic, but I chose to ignore it as I didn't find them too far from my own values, but Dogs, crosses the line. It is not that I don't agree with what he is saying--I do. And there's a good lesson in there. But I resent the fact that a mathematics book for elementary HOMESCHOOLED students is designed to "teach" this lesson and decides for me when to teach it and how. This is overstepping the boundaries. One of my reasons to homeschool is that some educated creep who designs carricula is not brainwashing my children.

 

I'm frankly disgusted by this, and won't be buying his books anymore. I was hoping to get the entire series for DS... I do have LOF Fractions in addition to Apples and Butterflies, but that's it. No more.

[amyk]

If you don't agree with the general viewpoints of Stanley Schmidt, you should not buy LOF. His viewpoints are woven throughout the series--it is not just a math curriculum. I think he is extremely insightful and I have agreed with just about everything he says. He is one of my daughter's favorite authors, and probably the one she quotes the most. I love the series and I am excited to own the complete set.

[amyk]

Yeah! I made it to Larvae!

[zoo_keeper]

Well, I have to publicly concede that I may have overestimated my daughters' reaction to the content in Dogs. At dinner the series came up, the girls were wondering how many books are in the elementary series, and while we were discussing it, they caught on to the fact that I was planning to skip a book. So I tried to delicately explain my reasoning, and they both are now claiming that they can handle it - that they love Fred enough to be brave. So we might be trying Dogs after all. Maybe by discussing the matter in advance we will avoid an emotional reaction. But I still really owe the poseter who originally posted a warning about the ending a shout out of "thanks!"

[sarahli]

This story bothers me, but not the euthanizing dogs part. It's the way they portray the animal shelter. I've never heard of a shelter euthanizing 30 animals at once, or letting someone adopt 15 dogs at once, or allowing an adoption to someone whose apartment doesn't allow pets. And people giving up their dogs because they spent too much at Christmas? Do people do this :confused:. Do shelters run newspaper ads about how many pets they will euthanize? Swallowing my :chillpill: now.

[hmschooling]

When I have spent time on his personal website, and by time, I mean enough time to read quite a few things, this is what I experienced.

 

First, I laughed at the Santa parachuting down and getting caught on a pine tree. No death.

 

Next, I laughed out loud at the Christmas poem "Reservations Encouraged." No death.

 

Then I rifled through the "Prayers at 8:30" and enjoyed the depth of these very short, very simple little prayers. In fact, our whole family has enjoyed them. My husband actually started reading one each morning for our devotion, then matching it up with a scripture and playing a song. And no, we do not read Sylvia Plath for morning devotions, black shoe, black shoe.

 

OK, so then I just laughed again when I realized that Stan Schmidt had done TV shoes for public TV. What in the world? I did not watch them, but just the thought of it cracked me up.

 

I really am having a hard time agreeing with the opinion that Stanley Schmidt is a death obsessed math teacher.

 

But if someone applied that same reasoning to me, maybe they would accuse me of being a Sylvia Plath homeschool teacher! Oliver Twist! The 30 Years War! Life of Fred! The hawk that swooped down in front of my children and nabbed a dove they were trying to save! Natural Selection!!

Do you know what my kids are studying in history this week? SOTW history? They are going to learn about the BLACK PLAGUE and the BURNING OF LONDON. They are actually currently building a giant paper replica of London which the 13yo ds is going to set on FIRE with FIREWORKS.

 

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

 

Death be not proud

Though some have called thee mighty and dreadful!!!!

 

:001_smile:

 

Perhaps there's a little more issue with dead animals than dead people these days (proven by abortion and infanticide all over the world--- just don't kill those cute little puppies). Loved your point here :) We certainly read much more horrible things in history than these POSSIBLY euthanized animals. I say skip history altogether if your child can't handle reading about these dogs! History is way scary! ;) With LoF I am way more concerned in the conceptual teaching...is it even there?! We are part way through Apples and I just see story math, but not a bit of teaching HOW and WHY...just WHEN you'd use it in real life.

[hmschooling]

This story bothers me, but not the euthanizing dogs part. It's the way they portray the animal shelter. I've never heard of a shelter euthanizing 30 animals at once, or letting someone adopt 15 dogs at once, or allowing an adoption to someone whose apartment doesn't allow pets. And people giving up their dogs because they spent too much at Christmas? Do people do this :confused:. Do shelters run newspaper ads about how many pets they will euthanize? Swallowing my :chillpill: now.

 

Exactly what makes it so obviously fictitious. It's not realistic.

[Karenciavo]

If you don't agree with the general viewpoints of Stanley Schmidt, you should not buy LOF. His viewpoints are woven throughout the series--it is not just a math curriculum. I think he is extremely insightful and I have agreed with just about everything he says. He is one of my daughter's favorite authors, and probably the one she quotes the most. I love the series and I am excited to own the complete set.

Same here. Then again we read Lemony Snicket and Hillaire Belloc so...

 

Yeah! I made it to Larvae!

Congratulations :thumbup1:

[LittleIzumi]

:iagree: I'm so glad I saw this thread. We enjoyed Apples and Butterflies with DS, and I was planning on ordering more.

 

IMHO, it *Is* worse than Bambi or Babar, or any fairytale. Every fairytale, by definition, is quite removed from a child's life. Many evoke an emotional response, but there's a buffer zone there. That's why most fairy tales are quite 'safe' in terms of allowing a child to experience emotions (which is healthy) in a safe environment. No matter how sad about Babar's mother's death, they knew it was a story. Besides, the books are not focused on that--in fact, there are only 3-4 lines describing the event (though the picture is disturbing.)

 

But it is still not the same as reading about the conditions of animal shelters. This is not a story about talking elephants! This is all very real and part of a child's life. Besides, it seems that so many chapters focus on this issue, and the ending is depressing in itself.

 

TBH, it's about a 5-year-old professor with a living doll. Monkeys use Fred as a beach ball. It's quite clearly fantasy/fiction in the parts I've read.

[K&Rs Mom]

Do you know what my kids are studying in history this week? SOTW history? They are going to learn about the BLACK PLAGUE and the BURNING OF LONDON. They are actually currently building a giant paper replica of London which the 13yo ds is going to set on FIRE with FIREWORKS.

 

 

:lol: We did this a year or so ago, and set it on fire in the driveway. Neighbor kid (outschooled, and around same age as my younger - 1st grade) came over to watch, and was absolutely horrified when my dd's explained what we were doing: her teacher is English, and she (neighbor kid) saw this as a personal attack on all things British.

[Guest submarines]

TBH, it's about a 5-year-old professor with a living doll. Monkeys use Fred as a beach ball. It's quite clearly fantasy/fiction in the parts I've read.

 

Fred, though clearly fictional, lives in our very real world. Babar lives in a clearly made up world.

[hsmom2011]

n/m

[Osmosis Mom]

I am sorry, but the opinions expressed in this thread would in my book be categorized under over-protective parenting. We are very animal-friendly, btw, and I go to great lengths to re-home unwanted animals and visit our local no-kill shelter, but my kids still understand when it is not realistic to keep an animal and when a book is just a story with a cover.

[Guest submarines]

I am sorry, but the opinions expressed in this thread would in my book be categorized under over-protective parenting. We are very animal-friendly, btw, and I go to great lengths to re-home unwanted animals and visit our local no-kill shelter, but my kids still understand when it is not realistic to keep an animal and when a book is just a story with a cover.

 

To each their own. It is not about the actual issues presented in the book. It is about wanting my math and science books to be free from the author's blatant declarations of his superiority, as he dictates when and how these issues should be introduced. I also don't appreciate his casual style, verging on mockery, and the over use of hyperboles while discussing such issues as dog euthenesia.

[silliness7]

I am sorry, but the opinions expressed in this thread would in my book be categorized under over-protective parenting. We are very animal-friendly, btw, and I go to great lengths to re-home unwanted animals and visit our local no-kill shelter, but my kids still understand when it is not realistic to keep an animal and when a book is just a story with a cover.

 

:iagree: I thought I was in the Twilight Zone for a moment. Nice post.

[nmoira]

Fred, though clearly fictional, lives in our very real world. Babar lives in a clearly made up world.

I haven't read the elementary series, but I disagree with the assessment wrt the rest of the books. Even tossing the idea of a 6yo professor aside, things regularly happen in Fred's world that cannot happen in the "real" world. Period. It's a comically exaggerated, cartoonish world, one that is as clearly made up as Babar.