Does This Annoy Anyone Else?

[Panders]

I've just received a new book from Amazon. To be fair, I did buy it without ever reading it - it's called Super-Pants! I ordered it because it was about superheroes - and we all know how popular that theme is! It also has a bear called Lola in it, and we have a Lola at pre-school!

 

However, upon reading the content, this is what annoys me - they are polar bears, but they are interacting in the story with penguins - in impossibility in the real world!

 

Am I being silly being annoyed by such things - I really dislike giving out the false message to children that polar bears and penguins co-exist.

[klc106]

I don't think your being silly. It would annoy me to!

[garrison]

fairy tales have unreal things happening in them too - a house made of sweets? a troll living under a bridge? Surely its only the same?

[louby loo]

yes and no-

 

On the factual side yes.

 

........... but then it is about 'superheros' so it is bit of a fantasy story anyway- but it is also a good point to start a discussion about who lives where etc?

 

xx

[JacquieL]

It would really annoy me as I would wonder if the author was basically ignorant and I would not feel that s/he was maintaining the integrity of the story. I think that there is a difference between this type of story and with Fairy tales and other imaginary stories. We know that these things are imaginary, and they have their own rules as such, but we know that Polar bears and penguins do exist, and that some people seem to forget that they live at opposite ends of the Earth. It would depend how the story went really.

[HoneyPancakes]

Oooh Yeah!! Bugs me. But Ice Age doesn't funnily enough.

[Froglet]

It will now I know for sure that penguins and polar bears don't live in the same place!

 

It's something I'd never really thought about (and before you all panic I haven't done any work with my children on this). Not trying to make any excuses for my embarrassing ignorance but I've never been particularly interested in that topic so haven't ever studied it, I probably grew up with pictures and stories where the two co-existed (I liked stories which had animals talking to each other) and never questioned it. Kind of a question of how do you know what you don't know? I haven't read the book so don't know how the author's done it but I can see it being easy to have a sort of generic polar setting and bunging in every vaguely relevant creature.

 

I'm going to go and hide my head in shame now and make a mental note to really research any 'places' work I do with my class. :unsure:

[Rea]

It doesnt exactly annoy me, but it does make me wince a bit. Like tigers in Africa!

[Guest]

If the polar bear is a superhero, maybe he flew 'a la superman' to be with the penguins :rolleyes:

[Panders]

If the polar bear is a superhero, maybe he flew 'a la superman' to be with the penguins :rolleyes:

I think this must be the angle I come from in the story the penguins are having a christmas party - hats and blowers the lot, and are floating out to sea on some ice!

[Inge]

not really, lots of other things in these stories have irritated me for years... animals dont speak.. but they do in stories. they co exist with others in the stories that would never happen in reality, lots of stories have this sort of set up

 

Jaquie says it is different to Fairy tales and other imaginary stories. We know that these things are imaginary, and they have their own rules as such, but we know that Polar bears and penguins do exist,..... but while they exist they don't have parties on ice floats, this is an imaginary story..really not so different to the others?

 

as Rea said there are stories where there are tigers in Africa and there is one with a lion and a zebra in a jungle... cannot remember the title but hated it.. talking fish in the sea where the creatures are never found in the same waters.. could go on for ages... there are loads of them out there..

 

I used to try to embrace them as what they were, imaginary stories, not meant to be real.. and if needed introduce the geography of it all in reality..

[Guest]

The Gruffalo......enough said