Horrible - Not for Children
929737
Not written for kids.  The book is full of sarcasm that young children will not understand and that adults will find obnoxious.  I realize that books may not appeal to all readers, but this one is is just horrible.  Neither my husband nor I found this to be readable and my 6-year old daughter asked my husband to stop reading half-way through -- something she never does since she loves books and always enjoys our bedtime story time.

We borrowed this book from the public library.  I intend to speak to the library's children's department about how horribly inappropriate this book is for children.
266953
Terrible. I'm returning it. I do not feel it is appropriate for the intended audience (a 5 year old). There is so much nudity, as well some odd scenes & explanations. I can't see likening sex (something adults do) to
tickling. I think this book would leave a child more confused. I can understand showing a naked human body in a book about reproduction, but I don't see the need to show it as often as this book does. And why do the naked woman and man in the book need to be overweight?!?! Not everyone is overweight! Waste of money, not at all what I was expecting based on the many positive reviews.
2340831
This story has to be one of the worst children's books I've ever read! Do not waste your time, its incredibly disturbing!
221132
I bought this CD so my four year old daughter would have some children's christmas music to listen to...big mistake. The voices of the children's choir are so high pitched and the songs sung with such syrupy sweetness that after one listening of the entire CD, I cannot bear to hear it again. I love children's voices and choirs, but this is amazingly grating. It is not at all what I thought it would be and I would not recommend it.
4909154
I cannot believe a book like this was written for children.  My daughter came home with this book she got for $2.50.  I was suspicious of the title and the cover.  Mum stopped taking her lithium and you know how a lithium deficiency affects us all!  Honestly, this book was made for anyone who needs to convince their children of their need for destructive prescription drugs.  Or if you feel your child needs and education in mental hospitals.  It is gross.
1178233
This book is targeted toward children, currently has a 4.5 rating, and makes me concerned for our future. This book is not appropriate for children, or even emotionally stable adults. It should be limited to the shelves inside a psychologist's office. It is dark and evil from the beginning and continuously gets darker. The wickedness of the characters in book 2 will be chilling for all (characters discussing the art and beauty of torturing prisoners), and should be nowhere near the eyes or ears of a child. My daughter reads a lot and has been exposed to a lot, but after reading only part of book 1 (which is the least dark part of the book), she came to me periodically that afternoon and cried, saying the book had made her sad. I then read ahead, and decided after halfway through book 3 (the part where a little girl gets traded for cigarettes and a hen and then gets beaten to the point where she goes deaf) that it was a waste of time and an unnecessary pain on my own heart. I wanted to track down DiCamillo and tell her it would have been better to commit herself to a psych ward than subject children to her pain. This is sickness.
4655165
I couldn't even watch 30 minutes of this horrible movie. It is not kid-friendly in the least! Crude and just plain boring.
3677194
I guess this was aimed at a younger audience than myself , but even that is startling to me. I did not realize that it was so dark, full of graphic abuse scenes. As a former battered woman this only served to stir up very bad memories. Needless to say, I didn't even get half way through before I removed it .I can't see how young adults can benefit from this book. I would not recommend it to anyone. Just my opinion.
1165756
Although it is a moving book, it is from a very mature perspective and totally inappropriate for young children.  As the mom of a 4yo typically developing child and an 8yo with autism we read a lot of books on feelings and emotions, and I am accustomed to taking uncomfortable topics head on, but this was horrifically bad for that age bracket.  I kept hoping there was some redeeming value at the end, but it doesn't.  I have never returned a book so quickly in my life.

If it were a book that was clearly aimed at adults, I can see it having some value, but is so inappropriate for kids that I think I would be more comfortable showing them pornography.  (well, that might be overstated, but it is just as inappropriate as pornography). If you are looking at it from an adult, artistic perspective...beautiful, moving, and deeply sad, but it shockingly bad for children.
3305678
Evil creatures pictured as nightmares for little ones without explanation for this. Definately will not give this to my 7 yr old grandson.
893627
Doesn't even deserve 1 star as a children's book.  Extremely inappropriate content.  Pictures showing debauchery, people that do something the child doesn't like are killed and he's glad.  His parents do something he doesn't like and they are killed and he's happy and goes on a vacation.  Both pictures and content are horrid.
1921692
Not recommended for kids. Visual effects were good. But the entire movie was full of cursing, fighting/violence, dishonesty and raunchy characters. Lie, cheat and steal; this "comic book" story isn't even appropriate for adults!
1525538
In all honesty, even as an adult who's not easily offended, this book would offend me today, not so much for it's content, but it's insulting to the reader's intelligence. I was lucky enough to grow up in a household where we had our own "library", that is, thousands if not hundreds of books- all classics, some very popular novels dating from 1960's and earlier. "Mandingo" and it's second (sequel?) novel were two titles that as an 11 year old, certainly had access to but was too embarrassed to read- based solely on the cover art alone I knew it would have raised Dad's eyebrow very highly had he seen me with it. But I did! I stole away in my room, surreptitiously with this title, and even as a curious and naughty child I HATED this book. Hated hated HATED it. I was precocious at that age and would read anything- including but not limited to "The Happy Hooker" to Greek tragedies, with Greek text and translations. I hated this book SO much and was angry that they let such a bad book be printed. It wasn't even interesting on it's own- it is like the adult cartoons they have out now on cable TV- lots of bad words and sexual situations to make up for it's dearth of any plot, humor, or artistic value of any kind. Why is it so expensive? Because it's out of print- and probably hard to find because most people who've purchased it threw it in the garbage not long after, creating a rarity. This is one of those books that appealed to the sexual perversions OF THE TIME (please pay attention to my capitalization, it's a propo), not unlike the ravishing of virginal, under age pubescent girls which was all the rage of naughty novels in the Victorian age. Black man, white woman sexual fantasies were another fantasy theme entering the time period of this publication, maybe even earlier, but I bet censors or publishers declined to market it until years later. So- to sum it up:
It's stupid
It's really not that well written at all
Violent sex, perversion abound, it is basically a sexually pornographic paperback and nothing more. Save your money, it is NOT worth adding to any sort of "collection", unless you collect garbage for a living.
1177941
I can't believe that anyone would want their impressionable young children to read these books. It teaches disrespect and bad behavior. Wow, totally inappropriate for young children. WOULD NOT RECOMMEND
4820067
I figured going in this movie was going to be bad, but how bad was yet to be seen. I watched almost 30 minutes of this terrible movie and could stand no more. I seldom stop watching a movie after I have started, but this was an exception. I don't think even children would enjoy this. This was a waste of time, money, and talent. Avoid this horrible piece of work at all cost. I would not even watch it when it comes to TV.
742626
I bought this puzzle pack to do with my 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son. They're simply not appropriate for children, or adults who aren;t interested in racist caricatures when they're doing a puzzle.

The first puzzle we did together was the office scene. I won't get into the details, but nearly all the women in the office have their breasts spilling out of their tops, while men ogle at them.

I decided to try out one more, the undersea scene. This one includes a picaninny, along with a caricature of an American Indian, to name a couple of problems.

It was disturbing to do these puzzles with kids. They look very intently at the pictures and comment on what the characters are doing and look like.

This was a disappointing purchase.
850561
The smell is soooooo bad. I bought it for my 4 year old daughter because it wad on sale at Toys R us. OMG it smells toxic and you will not be able to breath. This is daffently the worst toy was created for children. This unhealthy at all. I closed the toy after 5 mins from opening. It caused me a headache and my nose did not stop etching. So bad and I don't recommend it.