Worst Childrens Book Ever!!!!

[mrs.rocket]

You guys, somebody has to create an award for the most disturbing children's book on the face of the planet just so we can give it to whoever wrote this. I didn't know if I should laugh or cry.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/pictures/view/33522


Tell me what you think and if I'm just overreacting.

 

[Cil]

Here is the author's website.
Changing From Gay To Straight Is Possible
This really is pitiful on so many, many levels.

 

[scooterbug44]

Oh my god!!! This is absolutely awful! I had to stop looking after the second picture to avoid ending up on the news! What is wrong with people like this?!?:angry:

 

[seacrestkristi]

Some teenage lookin' girl just popped up on a side ad layin' on her bed saying, "Pleeease come chat with me." , while I was reading this children's book. Now that is sick. It is sad and sick and even sadder that it could help some abused child in some way. It's a sick mean world for some even though it's not fun to hear about it. I'm just sayin' it could be used in counseling for sexually abused kids, that are also being bullied for not fitting in. It certainly wouldn't be on a healthy child's bedtime reading list. It is good though that someone has the courage to address frightening and uncomfortable topics, even if it isn't right for everybody.

 

[hnooe]

That book is wrong on 2 counts--and I come from a largely Liberal social background:

1. It is wrong for small children, absolutely. There are ways to get children to open up about things that are bothering them without brining in a molestation tie in that is also graphic.

2. It is also majorly wrong for adults because it tries into incorrectly make an assumption that if you are gay, you are also child molester, which numerous studies have proven to be absolutely wrong.

 

[scooterbug44]

Despite the topics of inappropriate touching & parental conflict, this isn't a good resource book for a child psychologist or counselor etc.

Yes, child abuse is a MUCH bigger & more common issue than we would all like to believe (read the statistics and then do the math at the next kid's b-day party for a mind blowing reality check), but this is anti-gay propaganda, not a helpful book.

 

[seacrestkristi]

I could just see bullies picking on a kid who they thought was different or gay. Who knows maybe the kid was molested by a family member? I have heard kids say it was a weird 'mixed' up feeling. In that specific case I think It may help a child in that specific situation not feel so 'all alone' in their feelings. I don't find this to be anti-gay propaganda if used in this specific instance. Do you think this has never happened to a child? Do you think thre boys that lived as captives to that pervert may have feelings like this? Who really knows? Maybe it was therapeutic to the author? I didn't read it as the uncle was gay, just that what he was doing to the child was wrong , right? It was the kids friends who were then calling him the hurtful mean names, the bullies! Mean ole bullies. :angry: Why don't parents focus on that more often?!

 

[scooterbug44]

The anti-gay message I was referring to was the idea that the child was gay because he was molested, had an unhappy home life, and his father didn't spend enough time with him or love him enough - in this lovely tale, once he confronted his uncle & spent enough time with daddy he wasn't gay anymore because the purported reason for his gayness was that he was seeking daddy's absent love from other men.

I definitely agree that child abuse is major issue that should be addressed, and that books and toys can be helpful tools, but a book w/ a story of a molested child not being loved enough is anthema to the messages of self worth/positive self esteem that are critical parts of counseling for all abuse victims.

This author has written other books, claims homosexuality is a choice, that it is environmental/emotional, not genetic, and can be "cured" with help - maybe even by the Sexual Reorientation specialist he features on his website (gaytostraight.org if that helps contextualize).

 

[NoHall]

Two wrongs don't make a right, y'know. (Nor do three lefts, unless you're in a really square city.)

 

[seacrestkristi]

Well, all that is wrong! I didn't delve that deep and didn't get the entire message as you did. I did read the book though just took it at face value as if it may have happened to the author. I do see your points as well. The ad with the teenage girl on the bed on the side called "Fling' something was even more disturbing though, and still is. I almost instant messaged her to tell her to get her tail off that bed and go home to mommy before she gets hurt. Hopefully she's a cop in disguise screening for molesters. She's blowing kisses, rolling around on her bed, and pleading for people to talk to her. What kind of book site is that? I think the bully issue was important too.