Hold That Thought Milton is described by the publishers as a "Brilliantly comical tale"! Either I have lost my sense of humour, or this description couldn't be further from the truth. I found it tragic, and would never choose this as a book to read with my child. Perhaps I just take things too seriously.
Anyway, for your information so that you can form your own opinion, the story is about a boy called Milton who no one listens to. Everyone just says "Hold that thought" and carries on being preoccupied with other things. The people that Milton tries to talk to include his mother, his father, his brother, his aunt and his grand parents. They all ignore him. Then he loses his pet frog too.
Milton finds it hard to hold all his thoughts and worries and develops physical symptoms which eventually cause his mum to take him to the doctor. The doctor can't find anything wrong and sends him home to drink milk and get back to normal.
But Milton doesn't get back to normal at all. He continues to hold his thoughts. Eventually he bursts, squirting green goo on everyone at a wedding! Finally they notice him and promise to listen to him in the future. It turns out he had swallowed his frog. His mum gives him a quick kiss and then they all get back to the wedding - i.e. they ignore him some more!
Am I missing something or is that really not funny?
This book might be useful if you are social worker dealing with cases of parental neglect. It might be a good way to work with a child who has been neglected and to get them to start talking how this feels and to illustrate the importance of sharing their feelings and letting their worries out. It might also be good for working with the parents of such a child. Other than that, I'd give this one a wide berth.
Disclaimer - We received a complimentary copy of this book for the purpose of this review
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