Mother shocked to find penguin bondage book on shelves at pre-school

A picture book which depicts penguins in bondage gear has prompted the Ministry of Education in New Zealand to contact a pre-school after the book was discovered on its shelves. Mother of three Lana McLean found the book last month when she visited Sovereign Star Preschool and Nursery in Kaiapoi with her 3-year-old daughter. She had been the previous day with her husband to look at the pre-school. "I was there looking at it as a prospective preschool for my child, when other kids there brought the book over to me from the shelf and asked me to read it. I looked at it and said, 'go choose another one'."

The book, Gus and Waldo's Book of Love, is written by Massimo Fenati and is intended as an adult picture book, according to its reviews on Amazon. McLean said she was shocked by the book and took photographs of some pages to show her husband. After talking it over with him that night she returned to the pre-school the next day and laid a complaint with the manager, Brooke Philpott. "I said to her, ' I think you have some inappropriate reading material on your shelf. It's not suitable for toddlers - in fact I don't even think it's suitable for my 15-year-old'." McLean said she left the pre-school feeling as if the complaint wasn't being dealt with which prompted her to speak out about it. Pre-school manager Brooke Philpott on Thursday issued a statement through her lawyer, David Beck.
"The woman in question came to look at our pre-school and took offense to the book in question, Gus & Waldo's Book of Love. She left without talking the issue over and took photos in the pre-school without permission," the statement said. McLean is adamant she raised her concerns with the preschool management on her third visit. "I went back specifically to say I did not think it should be on the shelves." When this was put to Philipott's lawyer, he said: "I understand she is not a client of the pre-school." The pre-school's statement continues: "It is a humorous book depicting cartoon penguins that we had ordered wrongly thinking it was suitable for children given its use of brightly cartooned penguins. The offending bit that we did not spot until a much closer reading is that it depicts the two penguins in bondage gear.

"We now appreciate that it contains some adult themes that parents would naturally object to and have decided to immediately withdraw it but stress that young children reading it would be completely unaware of the significance of the clothing worn by the penguins. The book is otherwise bright and funny." Philpott said she unreservedly apologized for any offense. In the statement, she stressed that if any parent had concerns they should approach her directly to discuss them. Rawiri Brell , deputy secretary, early learning, parents and whanau, from the Ministry of Education, said early childhood centers (ECEs) buy their own resources, including books. Brell said the ECE regulations required centers to make sure that books and other resources for children were age appropriate. "This includes stories about families and relationships. Picture books for adults may not be appropriate ECE resources, while ECEs are responsible for buying their own resources, we will be contacting the ECE center to remind them of their obligations," Brell said.