This is about a dog that smells terrible all the time because he cannot stop farting. I do not at all find in inappropriate for children but I can see how it can be. It is a natural human/animal bodily function that everyone experiences repeatedly. The dog is in no way doing anything wrong. However, in our culture, farting has been taught to be improper etiquette and at times even embarrassing. Sometimes even saying the word fart can seem inappropriate to some people. It reminds me of my cousin who was never allowed to say the word fart. I remember one time I said it and she told me, “oh, you said a bad word.” She had to use the term ‘toot’ instead otherwise she would get in trouble for using a bad word.
I would show this in my classroom but before I do I would probably inform the parents first. This way, if anyone objects to the word “fart” I will respect that and cover up the word on each page and change it to a word suitable for everyone’s approval. It would be somewhat of a similar word or a code word that the students could come up with together.
It has a lot of good humor in it that I think kids would absolutely enjoy. I actually caught myself laughing out loud when Walter promised never to fart again and started holding all his farts in and then all of a sudden exploded with gas! I unquestionably believe it would grab student’s attention and make them giggle all while teaching them a lesson of having fun with reading and that it is normal to have gas and fart.
I read this book too! I thought it was really funny. I also completely agree that farting is something that everyone does, so it was interesting to me why this book would be considered controversial. I liked how you included the example of someone who thought the word farting was controversial, so instead they used toot.
ReplyDeleteI also read this book and enjoyed it. I do not find farting controversial. I liked this book because it promoted the message that certain body functions are normal and people should not be embarrassed about them. I also liked how Walter’s owners liked him for him even though he farted a lot.
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