# Dumbest Children's Book Characters **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [March 20, 2025, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-childrens-book-characters/1015893 "2025-03-20T22:40:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2025, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-childrens-book-characters/1015893/1 "2025-03-20T22:40:11Z")
There is no shortage of mentally challenged characters in children’s literature. Here are my picks for the two dumbest; one I like, one I don’t. I like Dav Pilkey’s Dragon. Dragon came before Captain Underpants, and is aimed at a preschool audience. To me, he’s dumb in a likable way. I hope no one on this board is related to the late Frank Asch, and he’s certainly written books with literary merit, but Bear (or Moonbear, as he is often referred to) is an absolute dolt. The films that were made of the books make him look even dumber. I can see Minarek’s Little Bear having a high pitched voice because he is, well, little. Moonbear is supposed to be a grown bear, but he has an annoyingly high-pitched voice. Perhaps living in a house rather than, say, a cave has dulled his senses. I never bothered to replace the ones in my library when they wore out. No one has ever asked for one, and I don’t think I could sell them on even my most eager young readers. Kids would think, “I can tell Mr. P really doesn’t like this book; why is he trying to get me to read it?” I can see one use for the books, however. If a kid doesn’t want to do any work, I could say “get to work; to want to be a dumbass like Moonbear when you grow up?” ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2025, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-childrens-book-characters/1015893/2 "2025-03-20T22:47:26Z")
How about Henny Penny? ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2025, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-childrens-book-characters/1015893/3 "2025-03-20T22:51:22Z")
Truly a classic dimwit. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-childrens-book-characters/1015893/4 "2025-03-21T02:34:30Z")
Amelia Bedelia isn’t exactly a rocket scientist. “You told me to put the lights out, so I put all the lamps outside! Durrr…” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-childrens-book-characters/1015893/5 "2025-03-21T02:51:08Z")
In the ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN stories, Bugs Meany’s entire schtick is (a) trying to get away with something, and failing when he slips up by (b) mentioning stuff he shouldn’t, in front of a boy detective who solves crimes that baffle the police. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-childrens-book-characters/1015893/6 "2025-03-21T03:11:19Z")
The Humbug from Norton Juster’s _The Phantom Tollbooth_ is almost always wrong about everything. (And no less lovable for it.) ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-childrens-book-characters/1015893/7 "2025-03-21T04:16:50Z")
He’s not nearly as dimwitted as the get rich quick guy. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-childrens-book-characters/1015893/8 "2025-03-21T12:58:37Z")
Mr. Frumble from Richard Scarry’s Busytown series seems to be pretty much a nitwit. So is Rudolf Von Flugel (the German fox pilot). ---
**Author:** ![De\_La\_Rue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@De\_La\_Rue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/De_La_Rue)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-childrens-book-characters/1015893/9 "2025-03-21T19:22:17Z")
It’s literally in the names: [The Dumb Bunnies](https://pilkey.com/book/dumb-bunnies) [The Stupids](https://www.goodreads.com/series/59758-the-stupids) (Huh, seems the Stupids came out two decades before the Dumb Bunnies. Who knew.) ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-childrens-book-characters/1015893/10 "2025-03-21T20:41:28Z")
If the get rich quick guy is so dimwitted, what does that say about the imbeciles who would have fallen for his bullshit if Encyclopedia hadn’t intervened? ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-childrens-book-characters/1015893/11 "2025-03-22T11:38:34Z")
Mostly those are 9 and 10 year old kids, so their credulity is more understandable - at first. You’re right that after the third time they should know better. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-childrens-book-characters/1015893/12 "2025-03-22T13:08:11Z")
Amelia Bedelia has already been mentioned. The other “dumbest children’s book character” that springs to mind is Button-Bright, a clueless child whom Dorothy meets on the titular [Road To Oz](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/26624/26624-h/26624-h.htm#CHAP_2) in the fifth Oz book. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-childrens-book-characters/1015893/13 "2025-03-22T13:51:27Z")
Been a long time (the Ottlets are in their 30s), but the Berenstains’ Papa Bear — “an over-eager, bumbling carpenter” according to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berenstain_Bears#Characters_and_themes) — struck me as more than a little dim. IIRC, about half of the books involved Mama Bear extricating the family from some dilemna Papa Bear had gotten them into. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-childrens-book-characters/1015893/14 "2025-03-22T14:14:48Z")
Deputy Dan was basically “Amelia Bedelia, if she were male and a sheriff’s deputy in the Old West.” ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-childrens-book-characters/1015893/15 "2025-03-22T14:42:22Z")
Amelia Bedelia took things literally, but she made a mean lemon meringue pie. While Papa Bear exercised questionable judgement from time to time, he never struck me as a big doofus, dimwit, or dunderhead. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumbest-childrens-book-characters/1015893/16 "2025-03-22T17:19:04Z")
I don’t recall that many bright minds in the _Winnie-the Pooh_ books, except maybe Christopher Robin and Kanga.