Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Thomas the Tank Engine books should be banned

I had a great morning yesterday, looking after my grandsons. Everywhere you tread in their house there are trains. I like trains. I like train sets - I used to go trainspotting as a child, and I love to go now with the little ones. There: my train-loving credentials are sound.

Unfortunately, T and G's bookshelves are also infested with trains. I enjoy the Little Red Train series - they are imaginative and fun: the illustrations offer loads of scope for conversation, and the text for excitement and interesting sound effects. But whoever thought of bringing back from the fifties the execrable, the outdated, the deadly, the mind-blowingly boring Thomas the Tank Engine Series (that I am not even going to bless with italics)? Whoever it was must be delighted with the financial rewards, but ************! Those books do my head in! And so do the videos. If you want a good video, what's wrong with Bob the Builder? If you want a good book, there are so, so, so many wonderful books for under fives e.g. by Shirley Hughes, Julia Donaldson, Judith Kerr, Lauren Child, etc etc etc.

Thomas the Tank Engine books should be consigned to the recycling bin along with the d-r-e-a-d-f-u-l Mr Men series.

Meanwhile, back on the sofa, under a heap of cushions, even more fun than trains or reading, is pretending you are a baby chick breaking out of its shell. Oh, it's so much fun to be 3 years old.

p.s. Someone just told me that TTTE books are helpful in teaching autistic spectrum disorder children about non-verbal expression. In that case, keep the books, but make them prescription only.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

mmm i can think of a lot of other more harmfull literature