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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This full cast recording was a delightful way to experience this story for the first time.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
lighthearted
relaxing
This was a cute book. Love the animals and their personalities. Their way of life on the river and in the woods. Most excellent
3.5⭐️this book is pure magical, wholesome vibes!! this is targeted for children but i really can’t imagine children reading this because the writing is a bit tricky to follow. toad was so infuriating but i feel weird saying that because…he’s a toad?
Read it as a kid and wanted to re-read it - held up to my childhood imagination.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I apologize to the majority of my GR friends who absolutely adored this book, but I’m on the side of the weasels and ferrets and evil little stoats.
If a kid grew up influenced purely by the characters and morals in this book, they would become a terrible, arrogant, selfish, pompously annoying person (and possibly commit crimes, fully anticipating no consequences). I would not want my child to read this until they were much older, but I would tell them not to bother.
It was amusing looking at StoryGraph reviews and seeing the content warnings tagged for this children’s book: gun violence, racism, racial slurs, classism, sexism, misogyny, fatphobia… I know it’s a product of it’s time, but this is not exactly great.
I don’t know how this became a beloved children’s classic because it sets a horrible example for children. It is whimsical and charming and written nicely, but that’s about it.
This doesn’t affect my review as 1) it was already negative and 2) again, I know the book was a product of its time, and oh how I wish I could remember exactly what it was, but there was a comment so blatantly and utterly sexist that I visibly gaped (and then laughed). The rest of the book is rife with inherent sexism but it’s at least under-handed and normalized, am I right ladies?! Yet another terrible example for impressionable young children.
Also, I’m trying not to question the implications of these characters using and eating animal products, and how there’s humans but also tiny toads driving cars, and a million other worldbuilding inconsistencies.
(Do they drive on the same road? Do the animals get their own roads? Do toads drive human-sized cars, somehow?! Literally actually HOW was a toad able to pass for a human woman? Where does the meat the animals eat come from? Do they know? Is a big secret being kept from them by the humans? Or are cows seen as an inferior species and put in death camps? Is this secretly a horror novel?)
I don’t expect kids to care too much about that, but it’s another reason I’m surprised by the status this book has as a rewarded classic. It’s adorable, sure, but it’s messy and random and nothing makes sense. Which I could look past in a cute kid’s book if I wasn’t being PROVOKED every other minute by the constant whining and bursting into tears and never learning any lesson, ever.
If a good editor looked over it today, there would be much reckoning.
If a kid grew up influenced purely by the characters and morals in this book, they would become a terrible, arrogant, selfish, pompously annoying person (and possibly commit crimes, fully anticipating no consequences). I would not want my child to read this until they were much older, but I would tell them not to bother.
It was amusing looking at StoryGraph reviews and seeing the content warnings tagged for this children’s book: gun violence, racism, racial slurs, classism, sexism, misogyny, fatphobia… I know it’s a product of it’s time, but this is not exactly great.
I don’t know how this became a beloved children’s classic because it sets a horrible example for children. It is whimsical and charming and written nicely, but that’s about it.
This doesn’t affect my review as 1) it was already negative and 2) again, I know the book was a product of its time, and oh how I wish I could remember exactly what it was, but there was a comment so blatantly and utterly sexist that I visibly gaped (and then laughed). The rest of the book is rife with inherent sexism but it’s at least under-handed and normalized, am I right ladies?! Yet another terrible example for impressionable young children.
Also, I’m trying not to question the implications of these characters using and eating animal products, and how there’s humans but also tiny toads driving cars, and a million other worldbuilding inconsistencies.
(Do they drive on the same road? Do the animals get their own roads? Do toads drive human-sized cars, somehow?! Literally actually HOW was a toad able to pass for a human woman? Where does the meat the animals eat come from? Do they know? Is a big secret being kept from them by the humans? Or are cows seen as an inferior species and put in death camps? Is this secretly a horror novel?)
I don’t expect kids to care too much about that, but it’s another reason I’m surprised by the status this book has as a rewarded classic. It’s adorable, sure, but it’s messy and random and nothing makes sense. Which I could look past in a cute kid’s book if I wasn’t being PROVOKED every other minute by the constant whining and bursting into tears and never learning any lesson, ever.
If a good editor looked over it today, there would be much reckoning.
Sweet, a lovely classic (also read brilliantly by Terry Jones). The second half was slightly different in tone though and I didn't enjoy it as much, but it was all rather different to what I expected (random Pan!). All in all, good fun and eloquent on the subject of home.