New children's book takes on mommy's plastic surgery ("My Beautiful Mommy" )

[Kadie]

New children's book takes on mommy's plastic surgery
By LEANNE ITALIE, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 32 minutes ago


Divorce. Bullies. Foster care. There are books for children on just about every tough subject these days. But mommy's plastic surgery?

A Florida plastic surgeon has written about just that in "My Beautiful Mommy," a picture book due out April 28 that tries to calm the fears of kids with parents getting tummy tucks, breast enhancement procedures and nose jobs.

snip...
"Many parents don't explain to their kids what's going on," said the father of four, with his fifth child on the way. "Children are very perceptive. You can't hide a major surgery from them. When mom goes down for two weeks after a tummy tuck it affects them."

Illustrations show a crook-nosed mom with loose tummy skin under her half shirt picking up her young daughter early from school one day and taking her to a strapping and handsome "Dr. Michael."

Mom explains she's going to have operations on her nose and tummy and may have to take it easy for a week or so. The girl asks if the operations will hurt, and mom replies, "Maybe a little," warning she'll look different after the bandages come off.

The girl asks: "Why are you going to look different?"

Mom responds: "Not just different, my dear — prettier!"

more...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080417/ap_on_re_us/my_beautiful_mommy_1



The cover of the children's book "My Beautiful Mommy" is shown in this publicity photo released to Reuters April 17, 2008. A Florida plastic surgeon has written the first known picture book aimed at 4-7 year-olds that seeks to reassure them about Mom going under the knife.
REUTERS/Handout


A page of the children's book 'My Beautiful Mommy' is shown in this publicity photo released to Reuters April 17, 2008.
(Handout/Reuters)

[ProgressiveFool]

1. A little bit more of my hope for human-kind just died seeing that /nt

[lukasahero]

23. Yeah, that about sums it up

I have no words. :(

[Solly Mack]

2. uh

Da'yum

[Binka]

5. Dr. Michael Salzhauer Is A Shyster

What a GOD DAMN asshole. I'd burn that book and then piss on it.

[Ellen Forradalom]

11. A shyster is an unethical lawyer

Salzhauer is a quack. :-)

[Binka]

14. OOPs Well He Is a Quackster!

:silly:

[H2O Man]

39. It generally is

used to describe a lawyer or a politician, but can be used to describe any unethical person. The root of the word is for someone who defecates (from the German "scheisser"). The book in question appears to have the best potential for use in an outhouse.

[Solly Mack]

13. more fun to pummel him with his own book while singing "I Feel Pretty"

[Sugar Smack]

15. Or we flatten his precious brainpan with a hard-cover Merck manual,

and Rita Cosby can sing "I Feel Pretty". :yourock: :pals:

[Solly Mack]

16. heheheheh...I can actually picture that

chirpy, cheerful music and singing...all in harmony with the thwack - thwack - thwack of the book .... sweet smiling faces...a little dance number...

I feel pretty - THWACK! Oh, so pretty - THWACK! I feel pretty, thwack - and witty, thwack - and bri-ight. Thwack, Thwack, Thwack!
and I pity - THWACK! Any girl who isn't me tonight. THWACK - spin -THWACK - kick - THWACK!

[Bettie]

3. Wow....

Way to indoctrinate the little ones. The little girls especially can 'see' early on that the only way to be beautiful is to have a doctor surgically MAKE you beautiful. Natural beauty is just not enough, you've got to be "magazine perfect".

[Beausoleil]

29. Bingo! That is the point, I believe

drumming up future business.

There's got to be a great market for post-pubescent boob jobs!

[Iris]

4. Wonder if there will be as much outcry as with "Heather Has Two Mommies"

somehow, I doubt it.

Why not a book in which the little girl is told she will need to help out around the house some so that mommy can get in some exercise every day so that mommy can be healthy and live longer? Or maybe, given the author is a man, they could also show the dad pitching in around the house to ensure that mommy gets the 8 hours of sleep she needs in order to keep obesity at bay.

[ZombieHorde]

36. Fantastic post. nt

[Bicoastal]

6. Another case of life imitating satire...remember this Onion article?

Uncanny how similar they are...

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/27973

[Quantess]

34. Amazing!

Maybe the author got the idea for his book from The Onion!

[BlooInBloo]

7. LOLOOLOL

[brentspeak]

8. Plastic surgery should be limited to those who suffer from a disfigurement

Cosmetic plastic surgery for non-disfigured people is just ridiculous.

[seabeyond]

9. that is just so very very sad. lordy.... geesh n/t

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[hulklogan]

26. There actually are books like that, but they deal with the topic in a more sensitive way

than you have.

[Zuiderelle]

27. I know you didn't mean disrespect by that.

But "Tranny" is not exactly a respectful word to use, and would hardly be acceptable as a book title.

[Runcible Spoon]

28. jesus fucking christ.

because gender identity issues and cosmetic surgery are, like, SO comparable :eyes:

[Name removed]

30. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Zuiderelle]

31. Holy FUCK. "they are both the product of extreme vanity.."

Wow... what an asinine and ignorant thing to say.

[Runcible Spoon]

32. is this forget the sarcasm tag day?

or did you really just type that to be taken seriously?

[JackBeck]

33. Nah.

Just a repeat offender.

[Duncan Grant]

35. I'll assume you're either a psychiatrist or a surgeon?

Extreme vanity? You obviously have no idea what the professional standards of care are for trans people. Perhaps you should look it up because it's plain to every other LGBT person here at DU that you're woefully uninformed about trans people and their lives.

[Sugar Smack]

12. AAAUGH!!! So really the fucking explanation is "mommy couldn't

fit into her clothes any more"---> This is it, right? I wonder what the rhinoplasty explanation is. I wonder what doc was thinking drawing a perfectly-healthy-looking woman telling her befuddled daughter that "mommy isn't acceptable". Pretty horrifying all around. If the subject had health problems, there you go, there's an explanation, but this book isn't about health in the least bit. Or character, or sanity.

[uppityperson]

20. "Kleenex costs so much, I'm getting my nose shortened!"

PRE-ORDER Today! Books will ship in time for Mother's Day!
http://www.bigtentbooks.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=188&HS=1

"Not just different, my dear — prettier!"

sick sick sick. Yes, books about operations are good for kids but give me a break. Shit, all I need to do to get sparkles in my life is Plastic Surgery! Woohoo!

If someone needs plastic surgery, I hope they get it. If someone wants it, well, go for it if you really want it. But what a bunch of superficial crap to give to kids.

[SoCalDem]

17. When my youngest was about 2, I got a perm

When I got home, he took one look at me and burst into tears..

:rofl:

[Binka]

19. Ben Cried When I Got A Perm (he was 2 also)

Then I started bawling, it took my hair months to fucking recover!

[kenny blankenship]

18. My Beautiful Mommy, who needs her nose broken with steel rods in 2 places

is so beautiful that she needs plastic pumped into her boobs which will make her so beautiful when the skin on her face is yanked back and stapled down behind her ears and some botchyoulinen neuro toxins are injected subcutame subtu sub- sub-cu-TANE-ously to make her forehead not worried anymore, is SO BEAUTIFUL now after the doctors vacuumed that ugly fat off her hips, that there is not one part of her that I recognize from before.

And when I grow up I will get married to a man who thinks I'm so special and who loves me SO MUCH that he will pay doctors to have me fixed up all over just like my Beautiful Mommy.

[uppityperson]

21. Self esteem shot? Clothes don't fit? Don't start exercising, get more pretty!

Teach healthful living and not superficial body image "beauty is in the eye of everyone else" crap to kids. If you want to do it, fine. But don't give this to kids. They have enough body issues already.

Crap, the "before" picture looks Barbieish enough already.

[Matariki]

22. Why am I thinking of the movie Brazil....

[RedCappedBandit]

24. This surgeon is trash

UGH

[bbernardini]

25. I think "Family Guy" nailed the kids book thing...

Peter: I'm looking for a toilet training book.

Book Store Worker: "Everybody Poops" is still the standard one. We also have the less popular "Nobody Poops But You."

Peter: See we're Catholic so..... uhhh....?

Book Store Worker: Oh, then you want "You're a Naughty Child and That's Nothing But Pure Concentrated Evil Coming Out the Back End of You."

Peter: Perfect.

[PeaceNikki]

37. It's notable that this is a "self-published" book. The "hype" it's getting is ridiculous.

Newsweek and the AP are giving this far more credibility than it deserves:

http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/010154.html#010154

This story is equal parts hokum and hot air. You’d think that somewhere in those three pages of titillating handwringing, Springen would have gotten round to mentioning that My Beautiful Mommy is a self-published vanity-press book available only from its “publisher”—or, presumably, from Dr. Michael Salzhauer.

It’s equally clear that the existence of My Beautiful Mommy says nothing about the state of the nation. It’s not going to corrupt the values of the youth of America, because they’re never going to see a copy. If it weren’t for Karen Springen’s article, the book would have no more significance, and get no more notice, than a xeroxed handout from your local GP.

So: Newsweek manufactured this alarming story out of medium-thin air. It’s one more thing to think about when the conventional media make snotty remarks about the journalistic standards of weblogs.
There's a reasonable and detailed post about this book here:

[Book Lover]

38. Hmm. I had heard about this a few days ago

Publishing chat boards have had a disapproving buzz on this one if that makes anyone feel better. I wonder who the jerk was who thought a press release would be a *good* idea...

[HuffleClaw]

40. meep

that is the worst thing i've seen in some time. appalling.

[kath]

41. Jeebus H. Christ on a trailer hitch.