I can't wait to see how many messages I have waiting on my phone tomorrow!

So I am teaching 2nd grade. I pull off the shelf my newest addition to my Eric Carle collection, Draw Me A Star.

I am beginning to read the book. Now keep in mind that it has been drilled into my head for the 14 years I have been teaching that you ALWAYS preview material that will be read or viewed in class. But COME ON! It's ERIC CARLE!

I begin to read the book...

well, let's go to this review from Amazon which is explains it much better:

"
A Heads Up for Parents, July 3, 2001
By "abookbug" (Dublin, CA United States)
I am an enthusiastic fan of Eric Carle's work, and found this book to be unique, touching, and beautiful in its craft. However, when I read it through for the fist time with my two-year-old, I was surprised and a little uncomfortable when we turned a page and found a man and woman introduced to the story completely in the nude and basically anatomically correct! The pictures were tastefully drawn, inoffensive, and certainly appropriate in a creation story, but I wasn't expecting a variance from the usual tunic or fig leaf covering in that is usually present in such stories when the book is directed toward a young audience. Personally, I could have used a forewarning to prepare myself with positive and fitting responses to my child's natural curiosity. Whatever your comfort level is with nudity in art for children, it might be helpful to you to know it is there."


Uhuh.... Mr. Carle uses a beautiful art technique of paper and water colors and then cuts them out and glues them on paper. He glued breasts and a vagina on the woman and a little penis on the man. Yes, I kid you not.

Can you IMAGINE what happened ? The class started to giggle and I couldn't figure out why until I saw the picture. I didn't crack a smile and I just went on with the book but oh man, am I gonna get calls tomorrow. I ran over to the art teacher and showed her. After she picked herself up off the floor from laughing at my predicament, she offered to help me. I asked her if we could draw some clothes, a loin cloth, anything!

Here is another review from Amazon:

Draw Me a Star, September 30, 2005
A Kid's Review
"Disappointed w/Eric Carle. This is a wonderful story, but the illustration of the man and the woman are not appropriate for our second grade classroom. This book goes well with a Marilyn Burns math lesson , but we were unhappy with the book's illustration."


NOW SHE TELLS ME!!!!!!!!! :-(

And finally, this enlightened individual feels this way:

"some people are ignorant, May 25, 2005
Reviewer: A. Stenvig

i heard people saying this book was borderline pornography. so i guess when you go to classic art museums and you see the body of a nude person it's porno. america is very ignorant for that stuff being so contraversial. if you go to european countries there are elementary children taking field trips to museums with completely exposed nude bodies and there is nothing wrong with it. it doesnt mean these kids are going to grow up with perverted minds. maybe if a a naked body wasnt made out to be such a dirty thing, children wouldnt care so much."

Oh yeah? Well, I am forwarding all my my parent messages to you tomorrow, Mr. Stenvig!

Days to teach 2nd graders: 6