17 Things I'm Not Allowed to Do Anymore

English language

Published Dec. 16, 2011

ISBN:
9780375866012

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1 star (1 review)

A little girl outlines 17 things that she's not allowed to do anymore, including freezing a fly in ice cubes.

1 edition

It's meant to be funny, but it's not.

1 star

I would feel uncomfortable giving this to children because it's a book of mixed messaging. The protagonist is a girl who does things that are largely kind of rude (stapling her brother's hair to his pillow, intentionally putting a fly in ice cubes, gluing her brother's slippers to the floor), but it's framed in a way that feels like it's trying to make you feel bad that she can't? Which I don't think was the intention, but the failure to really highlight the negative consequences of the behaviours gives it that feeling.

There are two points where the girl says she's "not allowed to walk backwards (to school/from school) anymore," and besides the sign saying "don't walk"... it doesn't show much about how it can be bad for you. I'm not looking for there to be a scene of the girl getting hit by a car, but it just feels …