27. XO, OX: A Love Story

27. XO, OX: A Love Story by Adam Rex. Illustrated by Scott Campbell

Back when I worked as the youth manager at a public library, I was in charge of purchasing for the entire collection. During my collection development, I found a lot of negative feedback of this title. More recently, during a trip to a local library, I saw it on the shelf, and absolutely had to give it a read through. Personally, I didn't find it creepy (we'll get into that in a minute), I found it rather sweet.

Ox is a well-meaning buffoon who is in love with Gazelle, a classy sophisticate. He writes her letters expressing his love to her, but she responds with a form letter. He doesn't get it, and writes her again. When she sends the exact same form letter, Ox finds it hilarious. He closes out his next letter with, "I hope that what I wrote before did not cause you to think that I love you because you are pretty -- I also love you because you are smart." Which I love.

She gets the picture and starts writing him personally, though all of her letters conclude with something along the lines of, "I will not be writing you again! Please stop writing me!!"

Endpapers.

Ox does not get the picture. He continues writing even though Gazelle constantly insults him and puts him down. Eventually she gets so fed up she rips up his picture, only to realize how much of a companion he was, and a sweet soul. The book ends with her writing a new letter to Ox with doey eyes.

Now, a lot of the negative criticism has to do with Ox's relentless attempts to woo Gazelle, even though it's clear she's not interested. But if she really wasn't interested, wouldn't she just ignore Ox? Wouldn't she stop writing for real? Wouldn't she get a restraining order?! Clearly she's intrigued enough to keep writing. I definitely do not see Ox as a creep. He does nothing but compliment and admire. But I totally get why you'd be offput by this story. Ox doesn't quite understand that "no means no." He loves her without knowing anything about her personally. He's clearly obsessed with someone who puts him down and can be seen as mentally abusive. And she just gives in and falls for him the moment he stops giving her attention. I can see where this book is problematic... and I can understand how this is a good book to start a conversation with your kid, but it's a picture book meant for children... I try not to take them too seriously.

Overall, I really enjoyed XO, Ox. I thought it was super cute and I absolutely love the watercolor illustrations, though the endpapers are probably my favorite. I will admit, I did not read this to my daughter because a) it's too long, b) it's not interesting to a baby, and c) I do not trust her to not rip or chew on picture books. We respect library books in our house! Recommended for older kids, 4+.