Thank you David! I have hated that book for the very same reason since it first came out. Unfortunately, the beautiful graphics make it practially irresistible to little kids.

As a teacher who sometimes doesn't have time to read what I'm assigning first, maybe the teachers haven't read the book, but have found the assignment from another teacher somewhere else.

If I were in your shoes, I'd sit down with my daughter and read the book together. I'd ask her what she thought. She may very well agree with you. If she does, support her, and allow her to go back to school and stun the "educators". If she shares the "staff solution" view that the school apparently espouses and expects, I'd gently suggest my alternate reading. This could provide that "teachable moment" where you get to explain conformity, as well as let her in on the very adult secret that teachers are not always right. Good luck!

Compare and contrast with The Little Red Hen. Or better, The Ant[s] and the Grasshopper. Perhaps a note to the teacher suggesting some such exercise?

I'm with you.

I also would like to add to this list the poem by Shel Silverstein "The Giving Tree."

I think it sends the damaging message to kids to give everything of yourself to the point of self-destruction. Always hated it. Thought the boy was a selfish self-centered creep who didn't really love the tree, just took advantage of him and left behind nothing but a stump.

That's a great message explaining to kids what friendship is. Destruction of yourself is something to be proud of.

How about another question: what is a pre-school or kindergarten level book doing as a reading assignment for kids going into 2nd grade?

My kid's going into 1st next year and we're reading (slowly) Charlotte's Web, Wizard of Oz and Pippi Longstocking.

Posted by: Ann on June 16, 2006 7:52 PM

One of the most powerful antidotes: The Incredibles ("when everyone's special, no one's special").
A confrontation, though, is not what I want -- especially not a confrontation by proxy with my daughter caught in the middle. Yet it seems I'm not being offered a lot of options.

Ann:

Though I chose not to mention it in the post, my wife and I found the entire suggested reading list absurdly mistargeted. Unfortunately, this is not a case of one teacher making a single bad choice, but rather an entire school (and a lab school, at that!) embracing a rigidly dumbed-down, one-size-fits-all curriculum. Homeschooling in September? Keep tuned.

Circe:

"The Giving Tree" might serve as a partial antidote to The Rainbow Fish. Whereas the Rainbow Fish's giving ultimately buys him acceptance, the tree only ends up dead and denuded.

We really need to get some kind of group together to inform people of the true nature of this book. I don't understand how after reading it, any parent could not see that this book is teaching socialism to their children and that they don't have to earn anything, that whatever they want should be given freely to them by the people who have it. I suppose most people just "trust" their government and Operah to tell them what's good for them and their children... what a sad state we are.