What the Hell did the Damn Duck Do now?

I kind of feel like I'm just missing a cane, a moomoo and house shoes, yelling at kids to "get off my lawn!!!" Telling stories about how in my day I had to walk to school, 10 miles, in the snow, up hill, both ways. And today, I gripe about "these childrens' books today..."

We took Landon to the book store the other day. Clint picked out a book that he thought was cool.

Duck in the Truck

It’s cute, it rhymes, it has a story to it.

The duck is driving along in his truck and he hits a rock and get stuck in the muck.

A frog, a sheep and a goat all go out of their way to help the duck out of the muck.
But the last page is where I really have the problem…when the duck’s truck is unstuck? He leaves the animals who helped him, stuck in the muck. He didn't say "Thank You." He didn't help those who helped him. He just. drove. off. GRRRRR.

It doesn’t have as easy a fix as my other childrens' book I have issues with. At least for this one:
I can just skip the page where his mother breaks into his house and rocks him…as an ADULT. She breaks into his house, people. It's creepy.

What happened to the stories like “Whose Mouse Are You?”

That mouse lost his whole family and systematically went about solving his own problem by getting them all back. We need more books like that. Problem solving mouse books. Bring ‘em on.

Or Sheldon’s Lunch. Yeah they screwed up the recipe. But those animals cleaned the WHOLE kitchen before Sheldon’s Mom got home. Sure, they created their own problem, but they also solved it.

Or Popcorn. At a Halloween party, the house is accidentally filled with popcorn, also, by the time the parents arrive home, problem is solved.

So I find myself picking up children's books now and looking at the end to make sure they don't have some kind of rude protagonist, teaching my kid to not even thank the people who help him. His books don't all need lessons, but at the very least, shouldn't they model basic polite behavior?

And it won't bother me in the least if my kid fills my house with popcorn or blueberry pancake batter without my knowledge as long as he cleans it up well enough that I don't even notice when I return. I want him to be a problem solver, and if that's what it takes, so be it. At least I won't have to clean it up.