Babies Love Kittens
Amoral baby books
Our little daughter, Basia (*), has a favorite book, "Babies Love Kittens". It is a lift-the-flap book about babies and kittens. Basia throws it at me whenever she finds it. That is how she communicates that she wants us to read it.
The book may be fascinating to Basia, but I'd rather read something that isn't about kittens, which I have absolutely no interest in. We have pet chickens, and we don't have mice.
Thanks to you, my imaginary audience, I enjoy reading books like this with my eyes closed. Imagine how impressed you would be, if you could see me read the book from memory, and turn the pages without even looking. Alas, twelve month old Basia is unimpressed. She would like to engage with the text. And the pictures.
"Babies Love Kittens" is factually true, at least for our little daughter. She is a baby, she loves kittens, and she even likes books about other babies who love kittens. The author is a certain Ginger Swift, who may or may not be related to my favorite English author, Jonathan Swift, and illustrated by Jessica Gibson, who drew some extremely cute pictures. It was published in 2020.
The original text is as follows:
In the garden, on the stairs,
Playful kittens are everywhere!
Happy kittens rub and purr.
They pounce on toys... and clean their fur.
Curious kittens love to explore.
What's in this cup? What's this empty box for?
Some kittens can be very shy,
or very brave... Or climb so high!
Kittens curl up for a nap -
in warm sunbeams, or maybe your lap!
Big and fluffy, soft and small.
We love kittens, we love them all.
I am sorry to tell you this, but that is Basia's favorite baby book. Not to criticize, but it really isn't up to my usual standard - check out my modesty song, evaluation poem, song about the Book of Ovadya, or poem about Nebuchadnezzar. You will notice that until now, the word "kittens" has not appeared here, on this substack, even once.
Which brings me to my real point. Despite my best efforts to introduce her to quality literature, Basia absolutely adores 'Babies Love Kittens'. This is not because our home lacks for intellectual stimulation. She doesn't want to read Psalms with me. Not even a little bit.
I can understand a 12 month old not wanting to read Psalms, but couldn't she at least have favored a book with moral lessons relevant to our family? Or something a little bit more Biblical, which would interest her mother?
I can write one for her. For example:
Babies eat food, they go to sleep,
A predictable schedule they like to keep.
Babies get dressed, and undressed too,
Without making anyone cuckoo.
Babies share nicely when in a group,
They avoid pneumonia, colds, and croup.
Babies play gently with their toys,
And household items do not destroy.
G-d loves babies, He loves them all
Fat or skinny, short or tall.
I like this one much better. Perhaps some babies would find the word, "fat", offensive. I can replace it with "chubby". It may need a bit more editing before publication, but it rhymes perfectly, and is very relevant to our children's daily life.
Now, it took me less than 5 minutes to write this. Compare my text to the text in the kitten book. In my 10 lines, there are solid and relevant moral lessons for babies to learn.
Truth is, even in the original, the last two lines weren't that bad. You should love all babies, whether they are fat or skinny, short or tall. The kitten book has a similar theme at the end, but it's not about loving all of G-d's creations. Just kittens. Understandably, the author stops loving them when they grow into cats.
You should love all people, since we are all human, and made in the image of G-d. I suppose kittens are G-d's creations too. So we compromised with a regular general loving lesson. But the text above no longer matches Jessica Gibson's excellent illustrations. Basia may not like it, for that reason.
Maybe it would be easier to get my daughter to read a slightly modified addition to the kitten book. This is still all about kittens, but it also has useful, appropriate, and relevant moral lessons appended to each line:
Babies Love Kittens, By Cottage Door Press,
(And how they should not emulate them, by Isha Yiras Hashem: )
In the garden, on the stairs,
Playful kittens are everywhere!
(Kittens never play without permission,
Or borrow tools from the electrician.
Additionally,
Kittens can go wherever they want,
But children must tell their parents before any jaunt.)
Happy kittens rub and purr.
They pounce on toys... and clean their fur.
(Happy kittens sit and listen to books,
They clean up their toys, and hang things on hooks.)
Curious kittens love to explore.
What's in this cup? What's this empty box for?
(Kittens play with the toys in their room,
And do not pick flowers as soon as they bloom.)
Some kittens can be very shy,
or very brave... Or climb so high!
(Kittens only climb on a ladder or step,
They would never get exposed to Covid or Strep.)
Kittens curl up for a nap -
in warm sunbeams, or maybe your lap!
(Kittens take a long and peaceful midday nap,
And they never fight about sitting in their mother's lap.)
Big and fluffy, soft and small.
We love kittens, we love them all.
(No change.)
In search of: recommendations for kitten baby lift the flap books with Biblical references, or at least meaningful morals. Thanks!
I doubt you can get much in the way of morals out of a kitten. My daughter has a book called Curious Coco, which came (in a gift) with a Coco stuffed kitten. Coco’s person (that is, owner) leaves Coco home alone for the day and the inevitable ensues. He then arrives home and philosophically accepts the mess.
The blurb on the box made this out to be the first in an emotionally educational series for toddlers, but the lesson seems geared more towards parents.
This entire Substack is hilarious!