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...or are they the worst books ever?
I had the misfortune to read a Peppa Pig book to a child. They're terrible (the books, I mean, not children).
The illustrations are rubbish. The stories are terrible - boring plots with no arc. The vocabulary used is unimaginative. There is no wit and no jokes for kids or adults. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and I probably have the same level of enthusiasm for Peppa the Pig, albeit for different reasons.
It is possible to do smart kids' books and entertainment. Look at Richard Scarry, Asterix, Pixar, Sesame Street...
Why is Peppa Pig so popular and yet so rubbish?
Not sure you are the target demographic 😆
Peppa pig is great. Although both mine are too old for it now. The books are just illustrated TV episodes. I reckon it's pre school kids tv par excellence along with In The Night Garden.
Charlie and Lola are waaaaayyyy worse.
The TV shows are far more entertaining than the books, there's no doubt about that. With guest voices from such stalwarts as Brian Blessed what more could you want 🙂
EDIT: netmums does peppa pig in a maxxis babes calendar stylee:
The books are just a merchandising exercise off the back of the very good TV show.
It's like complaining that star wars books are rubbish.
Charlie and Lola are waaaaayyyy worse.
^^This - Charlie + Lola the worst kids stuff by a long shot.
I despise the books - written like a ransom note and really hard to follow.
I don't mind Peppa - some of the TV Episodes are quite funny -
"International day" springs to mind.
Ben and Hollies Little Kingdom is made by the same production house as Peppa - some of those are hilarious.
They are pants, but Asterix / Pixar are aimed at a higher age range. Luckily mine never attached to the books or the cartoons but a casual observation amongst friends and family is that they tend to appeal to girls more (only have boys).
Better comparison is Dr Seuss (still great) and Julia DOnaldson / Axel Scheffler (waaaaay more entertaining for all parties). I don't mind Charlie and Lola either though, and some of Lauren Childs other books are well put together and have interesting ideas.
Oh the Shakespeare reference in Ben and Holly is priceless, as are the Monty Python ones.
I don't mind Peppa and for kids to learn to read on they're pretty good.
I have a 2 year old. I hate Peppa Pig. He loves Peppa Pig. Guess what we have to watch all the ****ing time.
Tbh I find the peppa TV show has brought on my toddler's speech leaps and bounds. As said, the books are just transcribed episodes. At least it's not waybaloo, I die inside when I see that.
Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy rocks!!!
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I haven't seen those books, but presume (and it seems to be confirmed) that they're just effectively scripts for the TV shows. We have got several Postman Pat books which are also like that, and they are shit - I hated reading them, and thankfully my kids have both moved onto books which are far better.
Amongst others mentioned, Charlie and Lola are fine IMHO - at least they read like a book. As for Way[s]buloo[/s]toohippy 🙄
Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy rocks!!!
Hercules Morse, big as a horse.
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It's a tv programme they grow out of very quickly, the same for Night Garden (thankfully, that makes me want to peel my own skin off my face)
I frigg1ng hate waybuloo as well.
If you don't like the peppa pug books then don't read Mr Men, they are rubbish. You think that because they have stood the test of time then they must be good.. No they aren't
The Adam Buxton cbeebies show is alright, can't remember the name though.
Bottomley Potts all covered in spots
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Hercules Morse, big as a horse
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and Hairy Maclairy from Donaldson's Dairy
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I agree the books are not great, but the TV show is brilliant. It and Ben and Holly (think it is the same people) are in my opinion leagues above In the Night Garden. Not too difficult as I think it is a big bundle of rhyming shite.
So far as TV shows anyone checked out Hey Duggee on IPlayer. Me and the Mrs love it when our wee one decides to watch it as it's really entertaining and brilliantly illustrated.
Mog's Christmas is a good book for this time of year.
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What you want to introduce your little ones to is this guy:
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My two year old is absolutely obsessed with Hey Duggee. The humour is good in it too, and it has Alexander Armstrong narrating in a very tongue in cheek manner.
Cracking stuff - highly recommended!
Ben and Holly is better, Nanny Plum one of TVs greatest characters.
The Wonderful World of Concrete is a good Peppa Pig book tho !
Muffin McLay, like a bundle of hay
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@akira: you're thinking of Messy goes to Okeydo, or something like that. The books are not bad too.
Agreed that the Peppa and Charlie and Lola books are terrible, but the shows are much better. Our kids currently love Hey Duggee and good old Octonauts, but are also getting a bit older so we jump over to CBBC every evening for Dragons.
Monty Python references in Ben and Holly? I thought I'd seen all the episodes by now but I must have missed that!
Anyway this was originally about alternatives. The entire back catalogue of Julia Donaldson is a good start, and for car journeys there's audiobook versions too. Stuff like the Gruffalo is entertaining/short enough for younger readers who would otherwise want Peppa Pig but a gateway to her longer works as they age. Our eldest has just turned 7 so is rapidly working his way through all Roald Dalh and Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree series which is bringing back so many lost memories.
Jonny Duddle writes (and illustrates) ace kids books
As for peppa.. My youngest was obsessed with the TV show, but we weaned him off overnight with the amazing [url= http://www.fastcocreate.com/1681874/pendleton-ward-on-keeping-adventure-time-weird ]Adventure Time[/url]
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The Charlie and Lola books came first before the Tv show. The author didn't like the lolA in the tv programme as she was too precocious.
The peppa books are just crap spin offs agreed but the tv show is hilarious. Ben and holly is the best though. Im not even sure it's a kids programme.
Jnr Oath loves it all. And I suppose that's the target audience. Vocab is simple for 2yr olds to follow. On the other hand I read Mrs tiggywinkle to her last night and I thought it was dreadful. Same with the Peter rabbit book she had as well. Can't deny the success of either though.
I love Ben and Holly - real chuckleworthy stuff there!
DrP
Adventure time is very good in a trippy far out kinda way !
My daughter is 18 months and one of her favourite things is story time - it's not just for bed in our house! Pretty much all day every day - I don't even need to read the words anymore I know them off by heart!
She loves Peppa, and the Hungry Caterpillar, but there's some ones with different textures to touch as you read.
Our favourite today is simply called "my first animal book" there's no story - just 8 pages of cartoon drawings of different animals we make sounds along to - the mouse and the rabbit are tough for that so we have actions for those - Elephant is second favourite because it has a sound AND an action - monkey is number one though! Because Monkey makes a noise AND tickles her under the arm - the anticipation is massive for her, every time she turns the page she's half waiting, half dreading it being the monkey page ha ha.
I don't mind the pre-school stuff, Balimory, Peppa, In the Night Garden and all that - it's like a 60's acid trip most of the time - it's the older kids stuff my 10 year old like that I can't stand - all the kids (mostly Yanks) are all so full of themselves, oh they love of a bit of 'attitude' but to me they just all seem very rude.
Charlie and Lola are waaaaayyyy worse.
They are almost impossible to read. I was literally translating them into proper english as i went. Massive effort for tired parents
I'm afraid it's Grampy Rabbit or GTFO if you were to ask my 2 year old
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That appears to feature the evil pig so I'm afraid the fatwa against Peppa also covers her lupine apologists.
If you ever get a box set of Dr Seuss books, do NOT read the ones you've not heard of.
They do not age very well at all, and that's if they weren't written to be REALLY freaky in the first place.
It's like complaining that star wars books are rubbish.
[i]Splinter Of The Mind's Eye[/i] by Alan Dean Foster is actually pretty good.
[quote=eddie11 ]The Charlie and Lola books came first before the Tv show.
That makes sense - despite what others are saying the books seem OK (I'm happy to read them, though I think they might have grown out of those too). Now I think of it we have got a Peppa book, and it's not great, reading like a script as suggested, but if that's the worst you've read you really need to try a Postman Pat book 👿
Edit: mentioned this to mrs aracer, and she pointed out that we've had two different types of Octonauts books - the originals are fine, but there are some which are scripts which are rubbish. Maybe there's a similar thing with Charlie and Lola?
My lad has outgrown Peppa. His current favorite is
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@aracer: yes, there are two distinct C&L books, and the adapted-from-TV ones are worse. The original Octonaut books are absolutely awesome though and our 7yo still like them because of the detail in the artwork.
Barbie is much, much worse than Peppa Pig. If you don't believe me, please try for yourself and report back.
Mr men books. I loved them as a child but reading them now they are utterly weird, random and tedious...
The re-written Thomas the Tank Engine books are the worst ever.
Love the original Mr Men books - there's a rhythm to the writing. The new ones just don't even try.
Anyway, check out Robert Munsch - cleverly written books with fun stories and lively illustrations.
And no one can read Love You Forever without the room getting dusty:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Love-You-Forever-Robert-Munsch/dp/0920668372
+1 here for Hey Duggee. Fantastic and my little girl loves it.
Pffft, amateurs... you've clearly never had to read a My Little Pony 'story'. Story being in inverted commas as while they are a collection of words, I would argue that they do not constitute much of a story.