Customer Reviews

Tom

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

 

 

Tom is a beautiful tale about a boy's special relationship with his grandfather. This autobiographical story about dePaola's childhood is touching and entertaining. It is a reminder that the special moments in our lives are the little things that are happening everyday. Tom and his grandfather work together, talk together, and even get into a little mischief. I used this book in my kindergarten classroom when discussing biographies. The children loved the story because they could relate to it and could tell a similar tale of their own about someone special to them.

What a wonderful way for your child to connect with his or her grandparent. A great opener for conversations and stories and a little history as well. A humorous look at what life was like for Tommy and his grandfather Tom in the the late 1930's.

My three-year-old and I love this book. Tommy shares an affectionate, somewhat silly relationship with his grandfather Tom. The grandfather's love of the boy is obvious in the nutty games he plays with chicken parts. Just a little naughty, which of course appeals to a child. I was a teacher and have read many children's books. There is something dear and wonderful about all Tomie dePaola's books and this is one of our favorites.

What a sweet story of a boy and his grandfather. My girls love it. If children could have such loving and fun relationships like this in real life it would be wonderful.

Tomie dePaola is a pure genius when it comes to the art of storytelling! I recommended this book to a friend after he related a couple of stories that illustrated his own father had a sense of humor similar to TOM's! I read the negative reviews and had to comment about this one. My kindergarten students LOVE this story! Do I explain to them about "General Stores" and "butchers" and lots of other words, sometimes, another child explains or clarifies for the class. Many have never heard words before that come up in this and many other stories we read together. The children don't find this story over-the-top. I explain that many small towns used to have only a General Store, these were owned by families--parents, grandparents and children worked at the stores. I tell them that my husband's grandparents owned a General Store and have brought in pictures of it to share with them! Some people here get bent about the chicken killing, sheeeeeeeeeesh, but as I explain to children, it was part of a butcher's life. And we still have "butchers" today that work at all the big-chain grocery stores. (Oh, adults: chicken are STILL killed nowadays for you to eat! And the life of a chicken today is far worse--so if you admit that you eat chicken, now you will have to deal with that guilt. LOL)

Tomie had a great Grandpa, and yes, he was a chicken killer. He also smoked a pipe--both politically incorrect nowadays, I guess.

Today my son (1st grade) asked if he could have a dead chicken. I asked if he meant a rubber chicken. He said "no, I want a real dead chicken...you know, the kind you hang upside down and you cut their heads off"? I asked if this was something he saw on TV. He said no, it was in a book from reading time at school. I thought maybe they were learning about where food comes from, but still found it a bit much for a young child. I told him that he could see one at the grocery store and it would be frozen. He said no because it had to have the head. I told him we could go to a chicken farm and learn about chickens. I think he could hear it in my voice that I was disturbed with his fascination and wanting to act out parts of the book. He justified it by saying "I just want to say a prayer for the chicken so he can come back to life, that's all". But then he elaborated that when you plant a chicken head, a chicken bush grows. When I told him that wasn't true, he got upset and said "How do you know? You don't know until you try." I know this book left a huge impression on him and he was probably thinking about it all day because it was the first thing he talked about when he got in the car. Instead of my son coming away from this book learning about a special bond between a boy and his grandfather, he just became fascinated with mutilated animal carcasses. I think the author is trying to tell a lighthearted story here, but it is confusing for younger kids, especially when we are teaching them to respect nature (disrespecting dead animal carcasses?) and the feelings of others (scaring people with these carcasses?).

This story basically tells of a time that a child, Tommy, spent with his beloved namesake grandfather, Tom. It tells of the innocence and gullibility of youth. In the story, Tommy's grandfather, who is a butcher, gives Tommy some chicken legs and shows him how to make them move. In turn, Tommy takes them to school with him and scares all the girls as well as a teacher. He spends the day in the principal's office, and a note is sent home. Tom tells Tommy that they will have to "think of something else to do." I would recommend this book for a child to read with a grandparent.

TOM centers on the relationship between a boy named Tommy and his grandfather whom he is named after. The two of them do different things together until the action moves to the grandfather's butcher shop, butcher table, and the killing of chickens at the shop. The cover of TOM shows the grandfather smiling at his meat counter with a row of defeathered chickens hanging upside down in shackles with their faces still on in the background. In the book, the grandfather is shown in his back room chopping up chickens while others he has killed there hang upside down in shackles. The grandfather hands Tommy a dead chicken's head to bury in the ground to grow a "chicken bush." Then the grandfather teaches Tommy to scare his classmates and teacher with dead chickens' feet. Several pages show Tommy perfecting this tactic. He paints the claws' toe nails bright red. "Grandfather: 'See that little white string thing? It's called a tendon. If you pull it, the chicken foot opens and closes. Try it.' "Tommy tried. It was scary, but it made him giggle. Tom put two chicken feet in a bag and tied it with string." TOM is an irresponsible book with a desensitizing message. It treats chicken killing and butchering animals as humorous. Scaring women and girls with body parts is presented as hilarious. Tommy is sent to the principal's office for his "prank," not for the cruel and sadistic delight he exhibits. This book gets away with its machismo and inhumaneness by being placed in a "cultural diversity-old world charm" perspective. The theme of "boys will be boys" is presented as integral to family humor, "male bonding," and a cute old grandfather. TOM is unfit for children. It teaches that it's cool to be cruel without any comparable teaching about what animal slaughter truly entails or how "girls" feel being taunted by fresh little boys. At the end grandfather and grandson are "wink[ing]" and think[ing] of something else to do."

This book gets away with its machismo and inhumaneness by being placed in a "cultural diversity-old world charm" perspective. The theme of "boys will be boys" is presented as integral to family humor, "male bonding," and a cute old grandfather.

"Tom" is unfit for children. It teaches that it's cool to be cruel without any comparable teaching about what animal slaughter truly entails or how the girls feel being taunted by twisted little boys. At the end grandfather and grandson are "wink[ing]" and "think[ing] of something else to do."