Making your own vegetarian-themed children's book

[Guest guest]

Hello,

since my husband has decided to eat meat again (I posted my

devastation about this a short while ago - I'm still really

struggling with this), I have realized that I now have the full

responsibility to teach our two sons about why they are vegetarians.

I ordered a book titled " Benji Beansprout Doesn't Eat Meat " from

Amazon and am EXTREMELY disappointed at how the message is

delivered. I'm irritated the book is even in my house, actually. A

brief explanation - there is violence ( " pushed Benji up against the

wall " ) and it has an extremely unrealistic ending where the bullies

at school wanted to come over to Benji's house for dinner and be

friends with him. It isn't appropriate for my 4 year old who has no

knowledge of being teased to hurtfully nor do I want to expose him to

a child being pushed up against a wall at this point. So, I thought

I would try to make my own book for him. Have any of you done this

and have any suggestions? I looked into Snapfish.com. They have a

book you insert your pictures and text in, but it starts at $25 and

you don't get to see what you're getting into unless you start making

the book. I don't have time to work it up and then see if it's going

to cost way more than that. I know I can do a crafty version of a

book at home but I want a longer lasting one I will be able to use

when my 4 month old is ready. If you have a site to recommend for

this, please share!

 

Thank you.

Hilary

 

(and I'm now reading " The China Study " that was so enthusiastically

recommended in posts regarding my husband's change of heart - GOOD

BOOK. Thanks for this suggestion)

[Guest guest]

Hi-

A good cheap-o solution, which will be virtually indestructible,

would be to make your own beautifull crafty book and then have it

laminated at your local office max, knko's, or teacher supply store.

usually laminating costs about $1.00 a foot, s a 10-pg. book would be

dirt cheap. sounds like a great idea- perhaps you could market it

once it's finished!

 

 

, " hilbro " <hilbro wrote:

>

> Hello,

> since my husband has decided to eat meat again (I posted my

> devastation about this a short while ago - I'm still really

> struggling with this), I have realized that I now have the full

> responsibility to teach our two sons about why they are

vegetarians.

> I ordered a book titled " Benji Beansprout Doesn't Eat Meat " from

> Amazon and am EXTREMELY disappointed at how the message is

> delivered. I'm irritated the book is even in my house, actually.

A

> brief explanation - there is violence ( " pushed Benji up against the

> wall " ) and it has an extremely unrealistic ending where the bullies

> at school wanted to come over to Benji's house for dinner and be

> friends with him. It isn't appropriate for my 4 year old who has

no

> knowledge of being teased to hurtfully nor do I want to expose him

to

> a child being pushed up against a wall at this point. So, I

thought

> I would try to make my own book for him. Have any of you done

this

> and have any suggestions? I looked into Snapfish.com. They have a

> book you insert your pictures and text in, but it starts at $25 and

> you don't get to see what you're getting into unless you start

making

> the book. I don't have time to work it up and then see if it's

going

> to cost way more than that. I know I can do a crafty version of a

> book at home but I want a longer lasting one I will be able to use

> when my 4 month old is ready. If you have a site to recommend for

> this, please share!

>

> Thank you.

> Hilary

>

> (and I'm now reading " The China Study " that was so enthusiastically

> recommended in posts regarding my husband's change of heart - GOOD

> BOOK. Thanks for this suggestion)

>

[Guest guest]

These titles have probably been posted before, but just in case -

 

Perfect the Pig by Susan Jeschke

 

Victor the Vegetarian by Radha Vignola

 

Victor's Picnic: With the Vegetarian Animals by Radha Vignola and Michelle N.

Ary

[Guest guest]

I missed your last post. Why did he decide. My husband is still a meat eater but

I have reduced his meat drastically and he is ok with it. 

 

 

 

hilbro <hilbro

 

Wednesday, August 13, 2008 11:57:02 PM

Making your own vegetarian-themed children's book

 

 

Hello,

since my husband has decided to eat meat again (I posted my

devastation about this a short while ago - I'm still really

struggling with this), I have realized that I now have the full

responsibility to teach our two sons about why they are vegetarians.

I ordered a book titled " Benji Beansprout Doesn't Eat Meat " from

Amazon and am EXTREMELY disappointed at how the message is

delivered. I'm irritated the book is even in my house, actually. A

brief explanation - there is violence ( " pushed Benji up against the

wall " ) and it has an extremely unrealistic ending where the bullies

at school wanted to come over to Benji's house for dinner and be

friends with him. It isn't appropriate for my 4 year old who has no

knowledge of being teased to hurtfully nor do I want to expose him to

a child being pushed up against a wall at this point. So, I thought

I would try to make my own book for him. Have any of you done this

and have any suggestions? I looked into Snapfish.com. They have a

book you insert your pictures and text in, but it starts at $25 and

you don't get to see what you're getting into unless you start making

the book. I don't have time to work it up and then see if it's going

to cost way more than that. I know I can do a crafty version of a

book at home but I want a longer lasting one I will be able to use

when my 4 month old is ready. If you have a site to recommend for

this, please share!

 

Thank you.

Hilary

 

(and I'm now reading " The China Study " that was so enthusiastically

recommended in posts regarding my husband's change of heart - GOOD

BOOK. Thanks for this suggestion)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Thanks to all who replied to this topic. I have taken a look at

LuLu.com and I think that might be the route for me to take. I just

need to get the message down on paper in a way that a four year old can

relate to and understand. It's trickier than I thought, that's for

sure. Maybe I need to create two books - one really basic one for now

and one for later when he understands the concept of death and what

meat actually is. I don't want to horrify him or cause him to pass

judgement on those who choose to eat meat. It's such a complicated

issue to explain to a kid, that's for sure.

 

 

 

Hilary

[Guest guest]

These two books [benji and cows] are on my Amazon wish list. I think

I'll take them off. [any insight as to why cows was bad?]

 

I did like the story " Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving " where the

children visit a turkey farm and are shocked at the sight of the axes

and knowledge of what the turkey's are there for. Each child ends up

sneaking a turkey home under their coats to be a pet or guest at their

house for thanksgiving. I just remember thinking I'd struck gold when

I found it! LOL

 

 

Any other good books for preschool aged?

 

 

Mama Stacey

[Guest guest]

If it helps at all, I've been having a hard time explaining to my 5

year old why we don't eat animals. At school, his friends eat hot

dogs and pepperoni [he calls it 'roni] and i was shocked one day when

we were making pizza and he asked to have 'roni on his.

 

The best way we got the message mostly through was to simply list what

we're supposed to do to animals and what we're not supposed to do to

animals. Such as: We pet animals, we don't hurt animals. We love

animals, we don't wear animals. We hug animals, we don't eat animals.

and so on. And my best tool has been that we don't call leather

" leather " or meat " meat " , in our house these things have one word,

" dead " . His teachers and our extended family laugh and can't believe

we use that word, but it's worked. He will tattle on his uncle or

grandma for eating " dead " and is genuinely upset when they eat it

around him.

 

Mama Stacey