Down in the Boondocks

The story is charming and the illustrations are grand. Full of color and life, and with a message that is sure to warm your heart. But there is a problem in the whole book with the play between the children being mostly about shooting, attacking each other. Now I have a 2 year old and he is quite active, so I know this is a part of child play. However, the following issue was the final nudge that made me pull the book (though my son still asks where it is. Oh dear.)

There is a picture where the group of friends is playing store, the illustration depicts one of them using his hand to make the shape of a gun and holding the "gun" to the face of Crispin. Crispin's hands are up in the air. The other pal is taking items from the shelves. The picture is showing a store being robbed. The point of play is to develop adult skills and coordination. The book is encouraging my son to play at robbing others and threatening others with a gun. I don't think I want him developing such skills.'

There are other things as well- name calling (not too terrible- but the word "scum" is not in my son's vocabulary yet...) and some trademark logos by toy names that make me think of marketing ploys. These combined with the store holdup and shooting as the main form of play are just too much.

So sadly, this is not a book for my son. I loved the story, the images and the message, but don't want my son learning what this book is silently teaching.


Terrific story with wonderful illustrations.   December 2, 2000
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Ted Dewan writes a great story and his illustrations make it that much better. Crispin, the pig who had it all, learns a wonderful lesson in this book. If your child wants you to read a story over and over and over again, you won't mind repeating "Crispin" -- in fact -- you'll probably enjoy it!