Children love reading about other children who misbehave. I'm afraid this list is not designed to make your little one renounce all naughty behaviour. This is a celebration of the literary bad influence. These are our very favourite books about naughty children.
1. The Complete Adventures of Curious George:
The very first place on this list simply must go to Curious George. He was the original bad boy of children's literature at a time when most story books were designed as a means of teaching children proper behavior. Of course George isn't really bad - he doesn't mean to get into trouble. He is just curious and full of energy - not unlike many boys.
George gets into one form of trouble after another, including prank calls to the fire department - for which he ends up in jail. Add jail breaking to his list of offenses as he doesn't stay in prison long. He also floods the house, steals a cow, wrecks a museum exhibit, paints a woman's apartment in jungle scenes and alters a note from the Man with the Yellow hat to change an order for 1 dozen doughnuts to 10 dozen.
But George isn't all misbehaviour - he tries to be good. He also ends up on a rocket into space, helping a baby bear, and cheering up sick children in a hospital. He has all sorts of fun adventures - but one of his best is learning to read. This the most stunning depiction of the alphabet I have ever seen in a children's book with each letter being made into an animal or other object beginning with that letter. What a wonderful way - not only for a child to learn their alphabet and associate each letter with the correct sound.
Curious George is a quintessential part of childhood. If you have grown up without reading it - it is never too late - pick up a copy today. And do not allow your children to suffer the same fate.
2. No David! by David Shannon
Some people love David - and others hate him. He gets rave reviews for encouraging children to read - but also gets slammed for being a bad influence - but admit it - we all love a bad influence once in awhile :)
There really is not much of a story, the whole book consists of David getting into one form of trouble after another, from tipping over the cookie jar, to coming in covered in mud (and even the odd worm), and running down the street naked, to breaking Mom's vase playing baseball in the house. There are very few words other then "NO" and "DAVID".
The text to this book is in large black crayon, and there is only one short sentence per page. My children could both recite the entire book from start to finish by age 2. This was also wonderful when my son first learned to read as he could pick the few words in this story up very quickly.
The illustrations are rather crude, but they have their own charm. David is drawn much like a child's drawing, although the artists talent is obvious in the rest of each illustration. He has small black scribbled in eyes and large sharp teeth. Some reviewers have said he was frightening. He is also cited as a bad influence by many. One reviewer mentioned her son wanting to do all the things David did. Well we did just that. We set up each seen, and let my son read a page and then act it out. We filmed it and have a brilliant movie. We plan to make one for the youngest boy as well. My son's do enjoy seeing David misbehave, but they also know it is bad behaviour and they can not generally do the same.
My sons love everything about this book. We read our first copy so often we nearly wore it out, so I have bought a second. My youngest goes through spells of reading these books every night and then tiring of them for awhile before we start reading again, but they remain favourites in a huge collection of books. I imagine all children end up hearing the word "No" a bit too often. This book really gives you an idea how a child feels, and I am sure my sons do relate to it. I especially loved the ending in which in spite of all the trouble he has been in, his Mother reassures him "Yes David - I Love You". I think it is nice for children to know, no matter how much trouble they may get into they are always loved.
3. Tom and the Tinful of Trouble by Nick Sharrat,
This book is often listed with other books to teach simple mathematical concepts, in this case its time. It also has pictures with the text on less familiar words (like wallpaper) and is in clear easy to read text with short sentences and predominately familiar words. But don't but this book for educational value, that's missing the whole point. Buy it because its fun.
The story is about a boy who discovers a tin of red paint while Mom is busy. It takes him 3 seconds to decide what to do with it, which of course is get into mischief. Three minutes later, he has the lid off and the fun begins. In three hours, he has painted the front room, and absolutely everything in it. Tom's Mom only needs ten seconds to reach total meltdown which remains the children's favourite part of the story. When my youngest was barely a year old he could shout out "wahhhh!" and "What Have You Done!". It takes three weeks to undo the damage Tom has done, three months later and things are back to normal as he celebrates his birthday, and finally three years later - He finds the blue paint! This was the favourite book of my oldest child for quite some time, and then became his brother's favourite. At ages 4 and 7 they both still do enjoy this - although perhaps the neighbours do not. The shouts have grown quite loud over the years.
Lots of nice touches throughout, like the long suffering cat, and a tree that grows each year showing the passage of time. One of our very favourite books and highly recommended. As an added touch the text also includes rebus pictures, making this very useful for beginning readers. My own son had memorised it well before reaching reading age, but even so, this book was quite useful as the pictures helped him keep track of the text while he recited from memory.
4. David Get's In Trouble:
We first read about David in David Shannon's award winning book "No David" roughly 6 years ago. This book was so well loved I just had to get the next one "David Get's in Trouble". The first book has a monologue by David's Mother which primarily consists of the word "No" with a few variations. This book tells David's side of the story, but once again David is in trouble from the word go --- or should I say no?
This book begins with a crude childlike drawing of David with a halo over head and text telling us what David says when he gets in trouble. Now David is really not a bad a child, at least not in my opinion - but trouble is his constant companion. It all begins with a quick trip on his skateboard across the front room - and naturally a few accidents along the way. Most of David's trouble is accidental - or just forgetfulness - he even forgets to put his trousers on before school one day. The one truly naughty event is when he pulls the poor cats tail saying "But she likes it"! The illustration makes quite clear that the cat most certainly does not enjoy this treatment, and I made a point of telling my children - we don't really pull animals tails because it would hurt them. But for the most part the book shows the types of problems most children get into - making messes, saying bad words, and not wanting to eat what Mom has cooked for tea.
As mentioned, David is illustrated in a rather crude childlike fashion, with small eyes, sharp teeth and the body roughed in. The rest of the illustrations do show far more talent - and I believe David is deliberately drawn in this fashion. My sons quite like him as he is and so do I, but some parents have said their children find him frightening. I even remember reading somewhere that he was evil looking. I do think the artist has difficulty with hands, as these are even rougher than the rest of the picture, but it does not lose any charm for this. In fact, my son would never draw as it really isn't his strong suit, but I have convinced he can draw David and these crude childlike drawings have given him the confidence to try.
The text is also very simple. Except for the first page - which has two lines each page has only one very simple sentence written in large black crayon letters. My children have both had this memorised by the age of two and can point out the words as they "read" the book along with me. Of course the oldest really can read it now, but this book was great book to get them starting with reading. My 4 year old will occasionally take these out and "read" them to himself - and of course if I am not up for reading I can just close my eyes and recite the book from memory myself.
My sons really identify with David, and he is just so funny we can't help but love him. The book is written in America, and this because obvious on the page about bad language. David is pictured with a bar of soap in his mouth and the text reads "But Dad says it!" I had to explain to my sons that in America some parents washed their children's mouth out with soap when they said bad words. Parents in Belfast obviously do not follow this tradition - if they did their children's mouths would be cleaner than their hands ! But more seriously, I am not a great disciplinarian myself and my children are taught more with reason than punishment. Where punishment must be used it is appropriate to the crime - things like losing bicycle privileges after darting across a road - or the most dreaded of all punishments thought up by a sadistic mind - loss of video games. But I believe children's dignity should be respected in discipline and this really does not seem to be a dignified way to treat a child. This has concerned my boys a bit, but they have gotten used to it now. And they do love commenting that their Dad says the bad words too - and they both did when they were to little to know any better. They laugh that Daddy still doesn't know any better!
Overall though, the book is very light hearted and of just the right sort of humour for very young children. My sons both love all the books in this series and we are planning to write our own versions. They say these books are perfect except for one small flaw - there is no farting. I can't recommend these books enough for young children who are not as interested in the typically sugary sweet books. These books can entice the most reluctant reader into loving books and are completely unique to my knowledge. In fact , if any one knows of any other books even remotely like these, please message me asap. I will be buying them as soon as possible. My youngest loved this from age 1, and I do think this is suitable for very young children. My oldest will be 7 and still enjoys this, although he is rapidly outgrowing picture books. I do think children up to about age 10 would might enjoy hearing this once, but would recommend buying it for children ages 1 -7.
5. It's Christmas David!
You'll either love David or Hate him - there are no in betweens with this character who stars in a number of books. Some reviewers have described David as frightening with his small black eyes and large sharp teeth. Others feel he would be a bad influence on their children. One reviewer was unhappy that after a day of misbehaviour, David is rewarded with a hug in the original story. There seem to be a number of people who really dislike these books. But love them or hate them, these books are completely unique. I have never found any other books even remotely like these. If you want a book like all the others on your shelves - this book is not for you - but if you want something wildly different and plenty of fun - do read on. I love the David Books though, and so do my sons. My oldest (age 7) says they were the very best of his picture books, and his favourites until James Bond. Even though he is rapidly outgrowing picture books, he still enjoys these, despite the fact that we read them almost every night. My youngest son says the No David books are the best books in the world.
This is the latest addition to our David collection.In this book, it is Christmastime, and while David seems to be a good hearted child, he is just one of those kids who is always in trouble. The cover depicts him knocking down the Christmas tree as he reaches for a candy cane. The first page begins " At Christmastime everyone said ' No David !' ". Each of the following sets of two pages depicts David doing something he should not - from trying to peek at his gifts and get into the Christmas cookies early to running down the street in his boots, mittens and a woolen hat - but nothing else! David writes his name in the snow - making large yellow letters, breaks a window in a snowball fight and causes general havoc where ever he goes. Will he be on Santa's Naughty list? Will he end up with a stocking full of coal?
Both of my sons absolutely love this book. The oldest, at age 6 could read the very large black crayon type print with ease. At 4, my youngest my can not read this, but he can recite it word for, only stumbling on one page with an exceptionally long text. One of the sentences on the long page is "seat your Grandmother", but not quite understanding this, he recites it as "eat your Grandmother" which my 7 year old finds especially amusing. Most of the pages have only one simple sentence, which is very clearly illustrated by the drawings, so this book is ideal for those just learning to read. I love these books. I think they are wonderful for making children fall in love with reading. The books are completely unique and will have a wide range appeal - what child doesn't secretly enjoy watching some one else be very naughty? But they will especially appeal to boys who are turned off by the overly sugary sweet fare so often offered to children. Of course there is a place for lovely gentle stories - but I believe there is also a place for wild, irreverent, even subversive, and hysterically funny books.
Some people feel these books set a very bad influence for children - and perhaps at times they do. My own son wondered if it would be possible to write in the snow in the same way.... I suggested a squirt gun with yellow water would have the same shocking effect on the neighbors and passers by with the risk of being caught with your pants down ...... literally. He thinks this sounds a grand idea.
Perhaps these books do set a bad example, but the children always recognise the behaviour as naughty, and it usually is not malicious. All children misbehave at times ( and very much want to at others). I think it is fair enough to show that even when children make mistakes - they are always loved and valued, and I think this book does just that. I think it is healthy for children to understand that occasional misbehaviour is part of childhood. No child should be expected to be perfect. Everyone does things they should not at times - and that includes grownups!
I also think, from an adult point view, this can help us remember to see the humour in such situations, as well as remember how we would have felt as a child. David has an irrepressible energy and is the type of boy that drives parents to their wits end - but he is also full of life and energy - and sometimes we forget what it is like to be so young and full of curiosity. This is a book that will have children even stitches, but even adults will be hard pressed not to have a small laugh or two. It is a wonderful change of pace from the ordinary reading material presented to children and I can not recommend it highly enough. All the same if the idea of a book full of misbehaviour makes you cringe - if you fear your children being exposed to malign influences - you'd be well advised to avoid this one.
A delightfully bad influence - the naughty list has never been so much fun!
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