A Book of Manners from Dystopia - At WHAT AGE is this appropriate??!

O.K., here is the scenario. I picked up a book of manners illustrated by one of my all-time favorite children's illustrators. I actually purchased it over a year before we had Boy - back in the days of yearning for a family and the hopes that buying a children's book would bring luck in achieving that goal. I never opened it until today. It has been on our hallway bookshelf and I had put it there thinking that we would pick it up at a later time. We're working on the importance of good manners now, so I thought - Great! This is a new book that looks fun. I flipped through the pages and came upon this: "You are a cowboy riding around the range. Suddenly Bad-Nose Bill comes up behind you with a gun. He says,'Would you like me to shoot a hole in your head?'" Then the next line is, "What do you say, dear?" ...

I'll tell you what I say, DEAR. What the HELL!!! Not only are these the words, but it is fully illustrated with a cowboy pointing a BIG gun to a little cowboy's head. I mean at what age would this be appropriate?? The back of the book says that it is aimed at children ages 4 to 8. (No pun intended.) Am I insane or does this seem CRAZY!!? I am just friggin OUTRAGED that this book is out there. I'm tossing it! Oh, if you're wondering what the response to "What do you say, Dear?" was ... it was this: "No, thank you." A book of manners for 4 to 8 year olds. Yeah, in Dystopia.

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