There was apparently a bit of a scandal lately, over a small book of children’s poetry that was published in Korea. It made it to the international press.
Some of the poetry was apparently quite violent. The publisher was compelled to withdraw the publication, and remove unsold volumes from vendors. I guess this ended up as a kind of Streisand effect (q.v.), and now everyone wants to see the book. I found some images online of some pages of the book, which I will reproduce below although I may take them down, as it might actually be a legally dubious move to show them.
I really like the poem about the mom’s hair – it is excellent.
The cannibal doll is more scary, and I can see why parents found the idea of giving voice to such morbid (and confucianly-disrepectful!) poetry disturbing. But as a teacher of elementary students, I feel I can assert that such morbid thinking is common in children, and probably developmentally “normal.”
[daily log: walking, 6 km]
Caveat: It is not my Mom’s intention, it is the hair’s
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Glad to hear you say that “morbid thinking” is common and likely developmentally normal in kids. I’ve been waiting introduce Henry (now 8) to A Series of Unfortunate Events, a set of 13 children’s books by Lemony Snicket (can’t remember what his actual name is). Definitely morbid, but the storytelling is marvelous and the books do a great job of introducing new vocabulary. Perhaps your students might like them? I think I’ll give Henry the first volume soon…