Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Children's Literature

The above is just a little picture of the Three22nd Gang. They are a rough and tumble group, obsessed with all things "cool" and opposed to all things "cute". Except their baby sister- she is cute and they know it. And they still love her. Deke is wearing a Brazilian soccor jersey, because sports are cool. Roman is wearing his "rock out" shirt because guitars and rock'n'roll are cool. And Lincoln is wearing Batman because Batman is very cool.

Lincoln doesn't quite understand the whole "we are cool, not cute" sologan. He still likes me to read him Dora and Diego books. The whole thing cracks me up though because if Lincoln is not at the library, Roman will still get him Dora and Diego books saying, "I am getting these for Lincoln, he likes cute things still and I think he will like these". Roman will keep going on and on about how he doesn't like them etc but can you guess who is the first one on the couch when I sit down to read one to "Lincoln"?

Reading books from the library is always interesting, because I have never read most of them before- and sometimes I get surprised.

This week we got this book about a tadpole and a caterpillar. They are in love and don't want to "ever change". Of course they do- tadpole first- and the caterpillar gets all mad about it. So she leaves and then ends up going through metamorphasis herself. Anyway, the book ends with the frog (former tadpole love interest) eating the butterfly (former caterpillar love interest) without realizing that it was in fact his former love interest. Did not see that coming.

We are also in the middle of a chapter book about a school mouse. Her brother has eaten the poison pellets. She does not see him when she enters the room, but "somewhere in the classroom someone was groaning horribly. Flora fled." Seriously, people! Can't we sanitize this a little bit more? Just a titch? For the children?!

But my personal weekly favorite is from Chet Gecko, PI. In his book "The Possum Always Rings Twice" he states, "And in this country, anyone can grow up to become president. I guess it's just one of the risks we take."

I laughed. The boys didn't.

Someday they will appreciate Chet's humor.

4 comments:

Elise said...

Too funny, Julie! Laughed all the way through this post. I can hardly believe there is a kids book about a frog eating the butterfly he was formerly in love with. But I guess it's just crazy enough to be true.

Johanna said...

I agree with elise, those kind of plot twists don't even usually happen in grown-up books and movies! real life, perhaps, but entertainment? Overall, hysterical post--I'm laughing out loud in my quiet early morning house, hoping I don't wake up my roommate who is still asleep. Don't worry, I don't laugh that loud!

Kate said...

Ok, so after reading your post, I tracked down the title to the tadpole-caterpillar book, ordered it from another library, and just read it out loud to the class as part of my British Literature end-of-the-semester presentation. Believe it or not, it illustrates a really important concept from the poetry of W.H. Auden. The professor loved it. Thanks a lot!

The Three 22nds said...

Thanks for sharing, Kate! Glad I could help!