I forced myself to read this because I was considering proposing it for an exhibit/commentary on the concept of Orientalism.

I know I have to concede that this is a children's book so the writing wasn't going to blow me away. I do like that children are encouraged to dream and use their imaginations but this book is full of cultural errors. This is dangerous because these ideas could fester and turn into bigotry later in life, and if bigotry already exists this is just reinforcing these incorrect stereotypes.

It's very difficult to write about a culture one has only ever heard stereotypes about so it's best to just stay away from them completely. ( )