A woman my mom works with at Oakland University has a four-year-old son. For Christmas, he received a book called Where's My Cow? by Terry Pratchett. His mother was NOT a big fan. I decided to look into the book. After reading it, I'm not sure how I feel about it.
Take a moment to watch this video of a guy reading it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHadHI0Wfzs
At first, I thought I could just make a post about this single book, Where's My Cow?. I'm beginning to realize, however, that Terry Pratchett is kind of a big deal. His books have fostered an underground culture of politics and deep thought. Some of his books have been published in up to 33 languages and he has fans all over the world...even in the virtual world of Second Life. Suffice it to say, I don't know much about him, or his work, at all. I do know, however, that Where's My Cow? is not just your average children's book. Like Voices in the Park, it has much to say politically. To be honest, I'm not sure I understand it fully.
Before starting this class, I didn't realize how many so-called "children's books" were so political and agenda-oriented. I'm not sure how I feel about it, either. On one hand, children's books are a great vehicle to get a message across. This combination of art and literature in the hands of children, their parents and teachers reaches a lot of minds. Think about how many people read these books! I understand from a creative, artistic point of view, that children's books should have the freedom to take a political stand. To bar them from doing so would be nothing short of censorship (which I am personally against).
On the other hand, aren't children's books supposed to be for children? I feel like the genre is being manipulated a little bit. In Where's My Cow?, Terry Pratchett makes it clear that he thinks general patterned children's books are not only boring, but also inapplicable to the modern city-dwelling youngster. He goes so far as to make up a new, humorous yet slightly disconcerting, story for his son. Of course, his son loves it and on a surface level it seems pretty harmless. But what is Pratchett really trying to say? The last line of the book leaves me with a feeling of uneasiness (which, admittedly, could be due to the fact that I am not familiar with the characters). Pratchett writes, "Where's my daddy? Is that my daddy? It goes, 'I arrest you in the name of the law.' 'That's my daddy! Law,' yawned young Sam, falling asleep. 'That's my boy,' said Sam Bines, as he tucked him in. The End."
Because I don't know much about the characters, I could assume that Sam's "daddy" is a police officer or something similar. Whether he is or not, however, it seems that the last line has implications beyond the surface. This is just one example in the book of a semi-hidden agenda. My question is this: Do you think children's books are an acceptable vehicle for political messages? Is the genre being manipulated?
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Wow that was really weird… especially the ending… it gave me the creeps.
At first when I was reading Where’s My Cow I didn’t understand what you were saying. I was actually enjoying the book and thought it was cute how the dad comes home to read to his son and how they make the animal noises together while reading. When they started reading the second book and the mom came into the room I started to get a little confused. I thought the first book they were reading was fine, but they acted like it was boring and needed something that related more to their lives, a book with city life. We have learned in class that we want to read what we relate too, but as a child didn’t you want to read books with animals?
When the dad says that last line, I was really confused. I still am actually and I wish I could understand it. It made me wonder if this book would be confusing to children because of this line and the fact that it is books within a book. I think children will mostly focus on the fact that the son and the dad have a good relationship and not look into it any further. Maybe we should look at the book this way too, but I can’t help but think about the mom also. When she walked into the room the dad started reading Where’s My Cow again. Again it is just confusing.
I wish I understood this book and I wish I had more to say to answer your questions, but I can’t. I had no idea children’s books were controversial before this class either. It amazes me, especially this one.
There is absolutely no reason why children's books should have political messages in them. Political messages are meant for adults and people who have the ability to form their own opinions. Children are not able to formulate their own opinions on such tough issues.
Young children tend to accept whatever they hear as true. At a young age most of us heard our parents tell us to never lie. We took everything we saw as fact and never questioned it. As we grew older we were able to see that not everything someone says or everything we read is true. By placing political messages in children's books we are, in a way, brainwashing our youth. There is absolutely no reason why kids would need to know anything political when they are still learning how to read.
If children wanted to know about a political message, for whatever reason, they should seek the advice of their parents. Books should tell a story that children could understand, not try and sneak hidden messages in. The message of a book should be easy to find and understand.
If an author wanted to teach children about a political issue they should explicitly state that. They could write a series of political children's books. This would be instead of trying to hide these same messages in a book of a different topic.
I'm pretty sure that the dad was a cop because the beginning says that he was a commander and that he worked for the city watch. I guess that the dad was just replacing the farm animals with the "animals" that he encountered out on the job in the city. If there is a political message hidden in this story then it has flown over my head because I have NO idea what it could be. I really don't know what your mother's co-worker could be upset about...maybe she doesn't like cows?
Personally, I feel that children's books are not the proper place to propagate your agenda. Kids minds are a relatively clean slate and to push certain views on controversial issues before a child can even think on its own is a pretty sketchy thing to do.
However, I could definitely see children's books containing political messages being a tool used by a child's own parent. There are so many parents that push their political views on their children right from the start (i.e. have you ever seen a toddler at a republican/democratic convention sitting on daddy's shoulders waving a "Vote for ______" flag?). Books containing political messages are just another way to raise their child and make him or her believe what they went them to believe.
I agree with the fact that it is a bit shady to add a political message in a children's book. I think in this book though, the author is just showing different bad people that the dad approaches at work/on the streets. If there is a political message here then I suppose it went over my head too.
I don't like that political messages are put into children's books. However, it's easy for me to understand why an author would do that. We're all human and even if we can see other people's points of view and get along- we all still have out beliefs and as authors, they have a perfect media to release their beliefs.
This was actually part of one of Terry Pratchett's adult books. The father in it is a character in this book. This picture book is a small part of the larger book. I think this makes it especially interesting. How much of a children's book is it really if it was intended for an adult's book?
Having said this I think it's a great story. I think it's true that sometimes the books we read our children don't connect with their experiences. If a child will never see a real cow why does it matter if it moos? I like seeing a father have fun with his kid and turn this into a more practical story. It's also cute that he uses real people in his life to connect it to his son.
I didn't really see a political message here. I saw it as a funny way for the father to connect with his child and use knowledge the child might actually benefit from. However if it does have this message in it then I don't see it as bad. Most children's books have messages in them. True they're usually tame such as unconditional love or teaching a child animal noises but they're there. But it's important to put real things into children's books. If we start teaching important messages when they're already grown we've missed out. Many of them will have heard things that we wish they haven't such as racism. If we don't show them in books when they're young that it's okay to be different, they will learn that it isn't.
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