Parents for Sale by Dr. Nicole Audet - A Bit Much?

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Pistachio is a beautiful...Golden Retriever. She has lived happily with the Clarks since birth. Pistachio loves biscuits. She often rolls into a ball or jumps very high to get treats. The Clark twins, Luke and Lucy, have her do pirouettes for their friends. The twins also love to pet Pistachio's soft, caramel-red coat.
Pistachio feels sad when the Clark parents shout at the twins because of her. She often hears Mrs. Clark complain, "Luke, Lucy, Pistachio is hungry and thirsty. Fill her bowls!"
Sometimes Mr. Clark screams, and Pistachio hides behind the lounge chair. One rainy day he said loudly. "Kids, it's time to walk the dog, even if it's raining outside!"
"After the show!" reply the twins, engrossed in their favorite TV show.
"Your father and I are walking the dog. We have have a family meeting when we come back, says the mother.
Upon their return, wet from head to toe, dirty, and tired, the Clark parents summoned the twins into the kitchen. The twins approach the table in silence, and Mrs. Clark says dryly. "Luke, Lucy, we know that you like Pistachio. Unfortunately, we do not have the time or resources to keep her. We've decided to sell her. Your father and I are very tired. We work hard and spend long hours in traffic too. Our hands are already full with taking care of both of you."
The twins gasp. "Sell Pistachio? Never!" they say in unison.

~~~

Parents for Sale

By Dr. Nicole Audet

The concept for the story when I accepted it for review was one, I thought, that it would be a learning tool about responsibility of children regarding doing their chores...which it is and I was appreciating the book as it moved into the children deciding that, instead of putting up a sign for their dog, they instead put one up for their parents to be sold...

The twins have children coming quickly to buy their parents, or even trade them, and the children soon realized what kind of issues other children had with their own parents...

I was impressed with the story of the various children's reasons for wanting to have different parents--they were just the kind of reasons that the twins had for wanting to sell their parents rather than their dog...

For some reason, the author chose to move into fantasy at that point and brings in "The fairy of Orphans!" There is a hint to the adult readers, I guess, when Pistachio starts growling. The fairy lies and says that their parents will be taken to care for orphans...

Both children think that is a good idea and go on to ask about the money and they get $300 dollars for their parents...

But then the parents come back and the fairy turns into a wicked witch who, think Hansel and Gretel, plan to eat their parents for dinner...

Excuse me, but, what good is telling a story with a moral to be learned, if you then proceed to make a mockery of the first-half of the story? I was perturbed from then on...

Then I was angry when, again out of the blue, the principal of their school is placed in the same position as the witch now was... Again, I say, what happened to respect for our school leaders being taught rather than to be scorned by children.

Life lessons do not always result in good times and parties for all... This book could have been ended with the children celebrating what great parents they had and become wiser children, for instance... I am sure there were many other options to close with a happy ending and a better understanding between the twins and their parents.

Merging fantasy within this book turned it into a farcical comedy which, in my opinion, was totally inappropriate, given the title and the beginning story. This is one reader who feels children are being propelled into some of the actions that are happening within today's world, such as bullying, with just such slippery slides within books, televisions and movies that ultimately leave them with the understanding, in this case "my principal can be mocked, scorned and ridiculed." Witches are one thing, albeit inappropriate to the story line, in my opinion, but when the author made a mockery of those who are in school leadership roles, we are helping to mold wrong-thinking in our children... Just my personal opinion, of course...

GABixlerReviews

Dr Nicole Audet is a bilingual family medicine teacher at the University of Montreal and best selling author in Quebec (Canada). Her books are widely distributed in bookstores, pharmacy and online. She wrote many medical articles and a health guide (Votre Guide Santé Info/Guy Saint-Jean éditeur (more than 125 000 copies sold).

Parents for Sale is her first self-published English 44 pages color illustrated novel written for 6-8years old readers (Authorhouse).
For more details, visit her website: www.nicoleaudet.com.