We have a book of Jan Brett's, "Fritz and the Beautiful Horses." I find it beautifully illustrated and the words have a nice flow, but pretty much lacking in logic. The citizens only let the most beautiful horses inside their city; Fritz is a fuzzy little pony but he is "gentle, sure-footed, and always willing to work;" Fritz eventually rescues the stranded children of the city when the beautiful but vain and high-spirited horses won't step in; Fritz is allowed in the city and all the children love him. I think the lesson is supposed to be that there are more important things than beauty.
Hibiscus has been loving this book lately, but I think she has the lesson about backwards. She praises and admires all the horses in their amazing Jan-Brett-y decorations and fancy saddles and clothes and braided manes and tails, and then she gets to the "silly horse" that she "no likes" and he "is dirty" and she is "going to 'eet 'eem" (hit him). She continues to make fun of Fritz and praise the beautiful horses all through his brave and kind rescue scene. However, on the last page he also gets a beautiful blanket, and then she likes him again.
I have tried to discuss with her that Fritz is nice ("no, dese ones nice, Fritz not nice") or that he's beautiful inside ("he not for beautiful, dese ones for beautiful") or that Fritz is kind ("him for diiiiir-ty") or any other combination of words that I can think of, but the message is clear: being good is all about having the best clothes.
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