Customer Reviews

Benny and the Binky

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Benny and the Binky is a very funny book written in a wonderfully simplistic way that I'm sure children would love. The illustrator is brilliant, and Benny's expressions are just priceless. You will laugh out loud at the "three tough pigs." For those of you who find it appalling that the three tough pigs want to punch Benny in the snout -- perhaps you should stick with gentler classics such as "Little Red Riding Hood." Benny and the Binky is just plain fun for kids and adults.

My 2yr old loves this book. Her favorite thing to do is sit down and read books with me. This is a book that she has me read over and over. We have discussed the incident where the pigs hit Benny's snout and the dog says he's going to bite their knuckles off and she understands that it is wrong or as she likes to put it, "naughty". My daughter is very attached to her binky (nay nay) and adores this book and I myself find it very cute.

Benny and the Binky. By Barbro Lindgren. Illustrated by Olof Landstrom. R & S Books, 2002. 24 pages. [money](Preschool)

A binky may be the only thing that calms a screaming baby pig, but the excruciation of growing out of that binky is the ingenious subject of the irresistibly hilarious Benny and the Binky by Olof Landstrom (Benny's had enough, 9/99). Benny finally has the new baby brother he has been waiting for. But all Benny's new sibling does is scream - until he receives a binky from his mother. Now Benny wants one too, but he's told he's too old. This causes Benny to "steal" his brother's binky and hit the road, but he soon realizes why he's too old when several groups ridicule him during his adventures for being some "kind of oddball". The comedy of Benny's journey (with binky in mouth) comes through the cast of characters he meets along the way, including "three tough pigs with soccer shoes (on)." They are shown preparing to chase Benny, each in a three-point stance, in the masterfully done illustration that tells the story even better than the text itself. Each character's personality is colorfully brought to life as each page is turned. Unlike the classic picture books, Benny and the Binky uses modern-day concepts and ideas, such as a dog working on a laptop computer and listening to headphones, in a progressively entertaining way. As all of us have a favorite picture book from our childhood, I feel that many of today's preschool aged children will someday look back at this book with the same fond memories. At the same time I, as a 28-year-old man, had several entertaining laughs at the "corky" humor throughout this book and will enjoy reading it to my children.

This book is wonderful. I often read to my children, but have never laughed out loud. By the end of the book I had tears streaming down my face, and my 3 year old yelling, "Daddy, stop laughing!"

This is a wonderful story of a young pig who sees something he wants, and goes after it. It is real, it is fun, and the illustrations fit the text beautifully.

Don't pass up the opportunity to meet Benny and his Binky.

This book just grows and grows on you. The text is simple enough for the youngest toddler, and the illustrations make it so funny that you will not mind the repeated requests for "read it again!" Every kid and adult can identify with the myriad kidlike emotions in this book. Get it.

Our son picked this book up at the library by pure chance.

I read it to him and his sister (4 & 8) and found myself laughing in shock that someone actually wrote a book that didn't make everything seem perfect. The bottom line is that Benny wanted his little brothers binky because he was feeling a little left out with the arrival of his new brother. He runs off with it and finds some kids that are going to pick on him because he has a binky. In reality it describes the impulses of children without sugar coating it.

It really just depends on your personality. If you or your kid don't like the more "aggressive" story line then you should not get this. I really don't think it is going to damage anyone. I had the kids grandparents read it to them too, to see what they thought. They also laughed through it. The kids thought it was funny too. It is just rare to find a book that doesn't make everything seem so sweet and wonderful.

I am a writer, so I can really appreciate all the funny, superbly written sentences in this book. The illustrations are precious, too. But c'mon, do we really want to raise kids who think these things are funny: three bully pigs punching a smaller, more helpless piglet in the snout because they think he's a "baby"; an "adult" dog threatening to bite children if they don't behave; an spiteful older sibling who sticks his newborn brother outside in the cold while he steals his pacifier, or -- worse of all -- the mother pig who doesn't pay enough attention to know any of this is going on. Perhaps in this generation of violent computer games and television shows, this book is the lesser of two evils? I say don't waste your money on bad messages for this impressionable picture-book set, even if the pictures are darned cute.

I preface this by saying that every kid/parent has different preferences and I may not the best judge. But I just didn't understand this book. And neither did my four year old, who was terrified and in tears half way through. The page where the bullies hit the kid was so scary for him. The drawings made the bully pigs seems malicious and scary, and the drawing of them actually hitting Benny in the mouth was just too much. I didn't get it. "Papa, will you never read that scary book again," my son said through sniffles. We never will.

It's a good thing i read this book before i gave it to my 3yr old niece. I gasped when i read that the mean pigs were going to "punch Benny in the snout" and when the mean dog was going to "bite the knuckles off the mean pigs". My niece doesn't know or need to know about punching and/or biting. Maybe I'm naive, but too bad. Violence will enter her perfect world eventually.