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Baby Books:
Carl Goes Shopping

Today's shopping tips: "Be wise in purchasing ..... find best value one"

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Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

List Price: $6.95
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When Carl is told to mind the baby at a department store, the faithful Rottweiler and his little friend do some mischievous exploring.



PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS:

Binding: Board book
EAN: 9780374311018
ISBN: 0374311013
Label: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 32
Publication Date: 1992-10-01
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Reading Level: Ages 4-8
Studio: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)


SIMILAR ITEMS:

• Good Dog, Carl : A Classic Board Book
• Carl's Afternoon in the Park
• Carl's Christmas
• Carl's Birthday
• Carl Goes to Daycare (Carl)


CUSTOMER REVIEWS:

Who doesn't love Carl? -
My baby loves to explain the pictures to me. I think this helps them to learn better/faster.

Cute book!

Carl has only one true master ... -

I always got the feeling that the "Carl" series was a feeble attempt at obliquely lavishing Satanism onto the minds of young children. Carl's ominous stance and focused, yet glaring control over the toddler seems like a veiled and shadowy attempt at mind control and looks like a deleted scene from one of the Omen films.

Many people have spoken out about this series of books over time and have been shouted down in the process by the militant and frothing fans that associate themselves with this very strange and very suspect material.

Historically, Rottweiler's have been associated as Hell hounds, Demoniacally possessed, guardians of souls, in both film and literature throughout the ages. When the parents relinquish control of their toddlers to "Carl", it comes across, subtly, like it's a passive reference to giving up your child as a sacrifice to Satan, himself.

Drowning your baby and throwing them down into a dark abyss are close to the top of situations that occur in Satanic Ritual Abuse cases nationwide and finding them as dramatic and comical situations in a children's book series leads one to raise an eyebrow and question the true motivations of Alexandra Day. Drowning, burying a child alive and immolation are the three most common occurrences with SRA crimes in America today, pawning them off as children's educational fare is suspect. All of these instances, and more, show up in all of the Alexandra Day books that are currently published.

I first became familiar with "Carl" when I was admiring the artwork while passing a large display conveniently placed in a large walkway at Nordstrom's. The artwork is really fine quality and rivals that of many children's books. But the stories themselves though lead one to only grimace and feel confronted with downright concern. Here are just a sampling of themes and situations that occur throughout the "Carl" series:

1. "Carl" rides away with child on its back, which is reminiscent of illustrations from Dante's Inferno.
2. Toddler falls into a large fish tank, symbolizing a dark baptism.
3. Infant is abandoned in a park and left under the auspicious control of "Carl" to vagabond and live hedonistically.
4. "Carl" locks adults out of a classroom, separating the child from adult supervision.
5. "Carl" leads the unsuspecting child into a burning building to save its offspring and a likely death.
6. "Carl" leads the child to a druggist for an all-to-obvious rendezvous.
7. "Carl" leads child into explicit adult situations with photographic equipment and double-entendre's to bear witness to lascivious deeds.
8. "Carl" takes control of the child during Christ's birthday, avoiding church and leading the baby into a freezing white blizzard, painting a sarcastic analogy of Heaven.
9. "Carl" leads the baby into a dark cellar on his birthday and disappears with the child for an inordinate period of time, only to return looking oddly disheveled.
10. "Carl" attacks three children and mauls a young female toddler on her hindquarters in "Follow Carl". Obvious punishment when you don't "Follow Carl".

The problem with the series is that while the goal might have been to make a cute story out of a Rottweiler and a child, it left more people than not, the dour feeling that something else was going on below the surface of the story and the parallels are all too remarkable.




Carl is great fun for toddlers -
Once again, Carl and baby are off on an adventure, this time doing all the things that you know your toddler would love to do if let loose in a department store. It's a lot of fun to "read" and the Carl books are great for being stories that even a young child can enjoy by themself because there are so few words. The dress-up scene is especially good.

I think the controversy over whether it is bad role-modeling is just silly. These books explore a child's desire to get to do fun exciting things without her parents' watchful eyes in a safe way. The only thing that bothered me at all was that I think Carl steals a box of dog treats for himself, but it is unclear (they may have been free samples).

The images in this book seem somewhat less polished in places, there are a couple where the baby's face looks positively ugly in comparison with other Carl books. Unfortunately, we got this as a board book instead of full-size. Maybe the full-size version doesn't have those problems. The images are really the whole story, so be sure to buy it at a large enough size to appreciate!

Smaller Size Detracts -
My almost 2-year old daughter loves the Carl books. I don't really like these smaller board books as much as the large hardcover books that we have, but she doesn't seem to mind the difference and carries the board books around with her.

Carl Goes Shopping -
Great book. My three-year-olds have loved it for at least a year, especially enjoying that the store has an elevator and pet and toy sections as well. Seems to appeal to a wide developmental range.

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