That time I gave a toddler a violent children's book

At the grocery store in Florida this summer I snagged a sweet set of children's books. They are perfect for ESL.

This one, for example.

A bunch of animals putting on hats of assorted shades. Then, oops! there is a turkey who has a bit of a problem.

He just can't get it right!


I should have known, however, that this book was not culturally appropriate. No, it's not because there is a topless elephant, but rather a difference in the native flora and fauna of Spain. Here, they don't have delicious, succulent, beautiful turkey. A New World, specifically Mexican, animal, neither the turkey nor Thanksgiving are on Spanish children's radars.

I should have known this, as last year when we made a ballin' turkey at my school with feathers where the kids wrote what they were thankful for and all that jazz, the kids kept calling it the big chicken, much to my dismay.

It´s a TURKEY

So it was not surprising when my 3.5 year old student finished the story and was a slightly puzzled.

"Seño, why is the chicken bleeding?"

Good question, small one, good question.