Children's book 'Maggie Goes on a Diet' sparks outrage




The book, entitled "Maggie Goes on a Diet," tells the story of teenaged Maggie and how her life is "transformed" after she goes on wholesale nfl jerseys , starts exercising and loses weight.
According to a description of the book at Amazon.com, Maggie "is transformed from being extremely overweight and insecure to a normal sized girl who becomes the school soccer star. Through time, exercise and hard work, Maggie becomes more and more confident and develops a positive self image."The book's cover art depicts a heavyset girl holding up a pink dress as she looks in the mirror. The image reflected back shows a thinner version of herself.
The book, which will be available in October, is aimed at children as young as four, and the blogosphere has exploded with criticism for author Paul M. Kramer.The Guardian's "The Women's Blog" asked in its headline if the book is "the worst idea ever?"
"Perhaps in Hawaii it's perfectly OK to read a book to your highly impressionable six-year-old daughter about a teenage girl, at the prime age for developing anorexia," sniped writer Laura Barnett.Over at "Bitch" magazine, blogger Ashley McAllister introduced her piece on the book with, "In Reebok Washington Redskins #47 Chris Cooley Realtree NFL jersey douchey children's lit news…".
McAllister went on: "The message behind this book is clearly telling girls that they'll only be happy and "normal" if they're thin, AS IF THEY AREN'T FED THAT MESSAGE OFTEN ENOUGH ALREADY."At BabyCenter.com, blogger Lindsay Weiss questions the book's title, saying the word diet "should never be a key word in a child's picture book. And the cover illustration is downright scary -- it clearly implies it's all about fitting into the dress."
The book is available for pre-order at several online booksellers, including Amazon.com, where customers have tagged the book with the expressions, "teaching kids to self-hate," "give your children neuroses," "anorexia bait," "if you hate your daughter," and "sexist drivel."
On his website, the author says his passion "is writing children's books that deal with the issues that kids face today." Other books he has written include "Bullies Beware!" and "Do Not Dread Wetting the Bed."On Tuesday, he appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" to defend the book, saying Maggie's story will choices cheap nhl jersey ."My intentions were just to write a story to entice and to have children feel better about themselves, discover a new way of eating, learn to do exercise, try to emulate Maggie and learn from Maggie's experience," Kramer said. "Children are pretty smart ... and they will make a good choice if you give them that opportunity."
Kramer also argued that critics are judging the book by its cover, rather than waiting to read it when it is available in the fall.Kramer has at least one woman on his side. Over at "The Frisky," blogger Jessica Wakeman tells readers to "stick a donut in your mouth and shut up for a second."While she acknowledges that the book can "be used by fat-hating and fat-shaming parents and grandparents to mess up their kids," she said the blame for that sort of behaviour rests with those adults. She also defends Kramer, saying, "Not every person who cares about encouraging an obese child to eat more healthfully and to exercise more has terrible intentions."
Wakeman points out Kramer's previous books that are designed to help children through awkward or painful experiences."Like Winnipeg Jets #17 Eric Fehr 2011-12 New Blue jersey else involving what parents expose their children to," she says, "whether this book helps or harms a child depends on how the parents use it."