My daughter recently picked out Oops! A Diaper David Book from the library. I took one look at the cover, thought the picture ugly, and asked if she was sure she wanted this one. She assured me that it would be a good one, so we took it home. It was only on our next trip to the library that I learned of the No, David! series, and that this book is a prequel to that.
Oops! is a 12 page board book, written and illustrated by David Shannon, that measures about 4" x 6." In it, children "learn" David's first words, with one word introduced on each two-page spread. I am okay with board books that teach kids with one word per page; my problem here is with the behavior associated with the words. For example, the word "ball" is attached to a picture of David throwing a ball through a window, saying "Uh-oh!" He introduces "dog" by dumping a bowl of macaroni on him. Other word include "ride," "eat," "bath" and "Mama." By the time he gets to the last page, David is so tired from his "accidents" that he falls asleep on his Mama's shoulder.
The pictures in this book leave something to be desired. They look like a combination of crayon and paint, with a lot of coloring outside the lines, made to look like something a child would draw. I don't have an issue with child-drawn illustrations, but with how this child is drawn. To be honest, David looks kind of scary to me. His eyes are black scribbled dots with three lines sticking out for eyelashes. It makes him look like a possessed rag doll.
Our Thoughts
My daughter that picked this book out never cracked it open. Unfortunately, my two year old picked it up and loved it. Me, I'm not too big a fan. Whereas the original book, No, David! made the point that even though Mommy tells him "no" all the time, she still loved him, the message here seems to be do a lot of terrible things and just say "oops" afterwards. Maybe if David had an expression on his face that actually showed some remorse it would be okay, but as it is, this book just seems to give small kids a bunch of bad ideas on how to behave.
Oops! Did somebody make a mess?! Join David as he finds himself in a few sticky situations, and learn his five favorite words along the way. From thro...More at HotBookSale
Oops! Did somebody make a mess?! Join David as he finds himself in a few sticky situations, and learn his five favorite words along the way. From thro...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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