A periodic look at stuff I’ve been consuming recently.
Children’s Book: The Skipping Rope Snake
I object to paying £5 for a children’s picture book. I appreciate that that’s the going rate for them these days, and I even recognize that it’s probably a lot more difficult than it looks to produce them. But five pounds? That’s half a CD!
To be honest though, we very rarely pay full price for our kids books, tending to get them from discount retailers like The Book People or borrow them from the library. But if I had paid £5 for the Skipping Rope Snake you could bet that I’d have stormed round to the bookshop the next day and demanded every penny back. It is, I’m afraid to say, completely pants.
The illustrations are innocuous enough, but the text is awful. It was written by celebrated British poet Carol Ann Duffy. I’d never heard of her until I googled her just now, but apparently she was in the running for Poet Laureate after the death of Ted Hughes. Now I’m not completely opposed to poetry. I’m a big fan of Simon Armitage, John Hegley, and Micheal Rosen to name but three. But the art form does try my patience on occasion. It’s practitioners have a tendency to be up their own arses, and I suspect that Carol Ann Duffy is no exception.
My main issue with the book is that it just doesn’t flow. If I had a degree in English literature I’m sure that I’d appreciate all it’s clever rhymes and intricate rhythms. But I don’t; and surprisingly enough neither do my children. The whole book reads like some experimental Jazz improv: all stops and starts and random beats. And like experimental Jazz it is excruciating to have to sit through and leaves you with a faint feeling of inferiority as you worry you aren’t clever enough to “get it”. Pah!
You can buy The Skipping Rope Snake at Amazon. But if you send me the postage you can have our copy for free.
I’m concerned by the message that is being sent to children about using snakes as playthings. I mean it’s not even sensible, if you could find a snake long enough in the first place to play jump rope with you’d be lucky but then to find one who didn’t object to being reduced to a child’s plaything, the odds are astronomical.
Lee’s last blog post..Top ten fictional space ships
Have you seen this: http://www.lookybook.com/index.php ?
It allows you to look at children books in their entirety. It didn’t have your snake book. I wanted to see it before I commented because:
a) My degree is in English (Fiction Writing, not Lit, but close enough)
b) I’m a jazz guy
c) Ted Hughes was awesome
Still, for some odd reason I tend to value your opinion in such matters and will avoid skipping rope with snakes or any other venomous creature.
Whit’s last blog post..I Smell Sex & Candy
As much as I would like to jump rope with a snake..I will keep in mind not to buy this book when it’s my time to buy a book for one of my future children (don’t have any of those critters running around atm ;) )
Arjan’s last blog post..Meme
I thought you got most of your books from doting relatives? I too love Ted Hughes (excellent surname amongst other things)
Sam’s last blog post..Nice Man from Nigeria
You know a few of us are going to go looking for this book now.
Darren’s last blog post..Friday Talent Round-Up
My Mum (works in a school, has worked in a playgroup) says that book is ‘rubbish’. Her favourite book (other than The Hungry Hungry Caterpillar is Peace At Last by Jill Murphy. It’s the one she pushes on everyone!
Bec’s last blog post..Kinda See Their Point…
Other than the Hungry Caterpillar (with obligatory grubby finger mark beneath the word “pop”), the only children’s book worth its salt is “Pass the Jam Jim”.
This Christmas Eve was the first in about 6 years where I haven’t read a children’s book out to our group (or indeed, in the case of Pass the Jam Jim, the whole pub).
It took me about 3 reads before I found my ‘groove’, the tempo changes all over the place and some of the rhymes are questionable but luckily Amy doesn’t pick it out that often.
Thanks for the warning.
zoe’s dad’s last blog post..Take a bow…..