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[CanadaFJ]

Maybe it's just me, but do people actually think this stuff is funny or appropriate for kids??


'Disturbing' Valentine's cards pulled after complaint
Moira Baird, Canwest News Service
Published: Wednesday, January 30, 2008

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Scholastic Canada Ltd. is pulling a line of children's Valentine's Day cards with messages that read wish you were "floating face down in a river" or let's be the kind of friends "who throw up a little each time we see each other."

The action follows a complaint from a St. John's parent after her eight-year-old brought the cards, which are aimed at older students, home from school.

Tina Dale says when her daughter ordered them she had no idea of the messages the card would carry. She says they weren't the kind of cards she wanted Emily to give to her Grade 3 friends.

"They're quite disturbing," she said. "To me, it indicated murdering people, hating people - that's just not normal."

The company appears to be listening - it's pulling the Happy Bunny valentines from its children's catalogue.

"We are very sorry to have disappointed you with this product," said Megan Faulkner, Arrow Book Club manager for Scholastic, in an e-mail response to Dale.

"The Arrow Book Club is for grades 4 to 8. ... We did not promote this for younger children, and most certainly not for Grade 3," Faulkner said.

The cards are based on the "Happy Bunny" series by U.S. author Jim Benton. Among his books are Love Bites, Life. Get one, and The Good, The Bad and the Bunny.

"Ten-year-olds routinely say things to each other like, 'I'm going to kill you if you don't get off those swings' ... they don't actually do it," Benton said from Detroit.

Describing the cards as "sarcastic and mean-spirited," Benton said they're aimed at kids 10 years and older who share that kind of edgy humour.