Online giant pulls children’s joke book full of very adult material
To my horror, I found frankly disgusting gags about sex, women and body parts, liberally peppered with obscene language
Every Christmas my husband and I buy books for our four young grandchildren. Some of them from a Waterstones bookshop and some from Amazon online.
When they arrive I flick through them to see what my grandson and three granddaughters will be enjoying as their bedtime read.
Thankfully I did so this year, because I can’t imagine what my daughter-in-law would have thought if her eight-year-old daughter Elizabeth had read the book from granny and papa.
I had ordered it from Amazon Children’s Books because the title, Awesome Silly Jokes For An Eight-year-old caught my eye and, as Elizabeth loves telling jokes, it seemed perfect for her.
It arrived before Christmas and I started reading it. To my horror I found among the 231 jokes a large number of frankly disgusting smutty gags about sex, women and body parts, liberally peppered with obscene language.
I simply couldn’t believe it. I showed it to my husband and he said: “Contact Amazon immediately”.
I did and was told they would look into it. The next day I received an email from the company offering me a refund on the book. I told them I wanted to know what they were going to do about this product and they said they would remove it.
I shudder to think how many parents or grandparents who may have bought this book as a fun book for their grandchildren will feel when they realise its contents.
Surely a company like Amazon have a responsibility to make sure that every publication they produce is safe for children to read? This episode has shattered my faith in them.
In the Amazon sales pitch, it states: “Awesome Silly Jokes. Hundreds of really funny and knock-knock jokes for five to nine-year-old kids.” Seriously?
In the apology email sent from Amazon, it read: “We are taking this very seriously and are investigating the matter. I will follow up with you shortly. Thanks for your patience.”
A follow up email informed me: “We have concluded the
investigation and taken action to remove the book from sale”.
No matter how big Amazon is, mistakes like this matter. Parents and grandparents want to know when they give a young child a book that it is safe to read – not a nasty piece of filth and innuendo.