{"id":1242,"date":"2008-04-22T00:01:05","date_gmt":"2008-04-22T06:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1242"},"modified":"2009-08-26T07:55:57","modified_gmt":"2009-08-26T13:55:57","slug":"straight-talk-about-the-food-chain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1242","title":{"rendered":"Straight Talk About the Food Chain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adrienne Furness from WATAT<\/strong><\/em><\/a> is gracing 7-Imp with her presence again this week. This time she and I (Jules, that is) are having a conversation about our favorite Slightly Demented Picture Books. Hubba wha?<\/em> you say. Adrienne will kick it all off with an explanation. Enjoy! And we hope folks will join in and add to our list . . .<\/p>\n

\"IllustrationAdrienne<\/strong><\/font>: Back in August, Jules and I began bonding over our shared love of what we\u2019ve decided to call Slightly Demented Picture Books. It started with Jules\u2019 review of Bob and Otto<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, written by Robert O. Bruel and illustrated by Nick Bruel<\/strong><\/a>. She and I have been talking about Slightly Demented Picture Books ever since. <\/p>\n

So what makes a picture book slightly demented? <\/p>\n

These are books that we love and that kids love that make other adults uncomfortable. My favorite example is the version of The Three Little Pigs<\/em> that I tell in my preschool storytimes. I like the more traditional version where pigs one and two get eaten. There is none of this being saved by the smarter brother. No deus ex machina woodcutter. Kids love this version of the story. They huff and puff right along with the big bad wolf, and they nod or giggle in a satisfied way when the wolf gets a good meal and moves on. Cautionary tales make sense to them: those pigs make their homes out of inferior materials and suffer the consequences. That\u2019s life, and I think this kind of story helps children make some sense out of a world they often find mysterious and difficult. <\/p>\n

My telling of this story bugs adults. Every time I share it, at least one or two ask me if I\u2019m not worried about warping the children. Honestly, I\u2019m more worried about the telling where pigs one and two are saved. The theme of the original story has to do with the way our actions have consequences. Versions in which the first two pigs are saved by the pig who built his house out of bricks suggest that someone smarter will be there to bail us out when we do something stupid. I think the real problem is that adults hate to talk to children about the ways in which life is difficult. I think they hope the children won\u2019t notice. <\/p>\n

Of course they notice, and so do we. In that spirit, we\u2019d like to offer you some of our favorite picture books that tell big truths about life in a way that makes us laugh a little. Or a lot.<\/font> <\/p>\n

Jules<\/strong><\/font>: Adrienne, you couldn\u2019t have said it better. Let\u2019s delve right into our list of Slightly Demented Picture Books, shall we? And I\u2019ll state up front that we do not claim that this list is comprehensive in any way whatsoever. This is just a start, the first ones that came to mind. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be so bold as to start with what I\u2019ll call one of the Top-Five Most Classic Slightly Demented Picture Books of All Time, The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales<\/strong><\/a><\/em> by Scieszka<\/strong><\/a> and Smith<\/strong><\/a>. Wouldn\u2019t you agree, Adrienne, that it\u2019s perhaps one of the daddy demented books of \u2018em all? I\u2019ll never forget seeing that book for the first time when I was but a wee young lass. I think I was a sophomore in college then, working for minimum wage during the holidays in a book store. And I remember thinking, children\u2019s books can be this wonderfully irreverent?<\/em> Not to sound all name-droppy either, but I had the good fortune of meeting Adam Rex<\/strong><\/a> at the Southern Festival of Books<\/strong><\/a> last summer and having a bit of a chat with him. And somehow that book came up and the fact that he had a similar reaction to it — that it was rather pivotal in that way, making him realize that there is a place for the waggish, for the deadpan, for the zany (for lack of a better word here) in children\u2019s lit. In fact, that book is what made him want to make his own children’s books. Pretty powerful, huh?<\/p>\n

And, regarding what you had to say up there in your spot-on intro, Adrienne, I\u2019ll never EVER forget reading for the first time \u201cThe Really Ugly Duckling\u201d in this book: “What a nice-looking bunch of ducklings -\u2013 all except that one. Boy, he\u2019s really ugly,\u201d says everyone. But then the duckling didn\u2019t care, knowing that one day he\u2019d grow up to be a swan and bigger and better-looking than anything in the pond. Uh, NOPE: \u201cWell, as it turned out, he was just a really ugly duckling. And he grew up to be just a really ugly duck.\u201d And then there\u2019s the unforgettable ending of \u201cThe Other Frog Prince\u201d — with the frog yelling that he was just kidding and the princess wiping frog slime off her lips. Well, it\u2019s not only screamingly funny to me—and was back then, too, when I first read it—and Scieszka\u2019s not only reinvented these time-worn tales. But he also included a healthy dose of irreverence in the tales that probably made lots of adults uncomfortable. Plus, dude, kids can be so cruel, so \u201cThe Really Ugly Duckling\u201d is rather refreshing to read and probably especially so for children, I would think. <\/p>\n

Adrienne, do you want to quickly talk about your addition of Sendak\u2019s<\/strong><\/a> Pierre<\/em><\/strong><\/a> to this list? \u2018Cause, come to think of it, it should perhaps be the Daddy of All Slightly Demented Picture Books. <\/p>\n

Adrienne<\/strong><\/font>: Yes, Maurice Sendak started writing picture books that make adults uncomfortable way back in the \u201860s. Where the Wild Things Are<\/em><\/strong><\/a> is constantly being challenged for its monsters and In the Night Kitchen<\/em><\/strong><\/a> for its nudity. As far as I\u2019m concerned, the really subversive one is Pierre<\/em> from Sendak\u2019s brilliant Nutshell Library<\/strong><\/em><\/a>. The book is subtitled \u201ca cautionary tale,\u201d and it is. On the surface, it\u2019s a story about how Pierre suffers the consequences of his actions and learns a valuable lesson, and that\u2019s what it\u2019s about\u2026kind of. But look at what\u2019s really going on. Pierre goes on with his \"The\u201cI don\u2019t care\u201d until both his mother and his father imply that they\u2019re going to leave him home alone while they go to town. Parents make threats like this all the time, but how many of them ACTUALLY LEAVE THE KID AT HOME? I mean, how old is Pierre? Five, maybe? Six? This may have been more normal in 1962, when the book was published, but still. Anyway, the parents abandon Pierre and then a lion comes along and eats him. The parents get home, freak out, and call in a doctor to extract Pierre, who emerges in a fine mood\u2014suddenly, it turns out, he DOES care. Still, does he learn a lesson worthy of a cautionary tale? I don\u2019t think so. The parents were way more upset than Pierre ever was, and I think they\u2019re the ones that learned a lesson about not leaving their kid home alone, even if he is being a PITA. I think Sendak\u2019s point has more to do with abandonment not being an acceptable parenting strategy. I\u2019m surprised more parents don\u2019t notice and complain about it.<\/font> <\/p>\n

Jules<\/strong><\/font>: Good point, Adrienne. I haven\u2019t really ever looked at Pierre<\/em> in that light, and I\u2019m an insufferable Sendak Nerd. Have you ever read When Owen\u2019s Mom Breathed Fire<\/a><\/em><\/strong> by Pija Lindenbaum<\/strong><\/a>, an award-winning author\/illustrator from Sweden? (I reviewed this title<\/a><\/strong> last year at 7-Imp.) It\u2019s another tale of child-abandonment-for-a-day. Sorta. It\u2019s about a mother who just. loses. it. This is something to which most mothers (if they\u2019re human) can relate. Actually, that\u2019s just it \u2013- Owen\u2019s mother becomes decidedly un-human for a day. She turns into a dragon. So, just her human form abandons him, though the dragon takes him out for the day. Anyway, it may be more quirky than demented, but it\u2019s worth considering for our list. Ever seen it? I think it\u2019s an intriguing tale (Kirkus Reviews<\/em> called it a \u201cshrewd fable\u201d) about the resilience of children and all the coping mechanisms they must rely upon to deal with mama when she goes all loony from stress. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to jump right to a very demented picture book for which I have you, Adrienne, to thank for telling me to go read. Oh my, it made me laugh out loud. And that\u2019d be Tadpole\u2019s Promise<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross<\/strong><\/a>. For those who haven\u2019t read it, it\u2019s about a star-crossed romance between a caterpillar and a tadpole. She begs him to never change, but he sprouts into a frog. Ah well, she forgives him, but then he continues to change and she breaks it off, all forlorn in her cocoon. Poor frog. Later, when the caterpillar–\u2013now a butterfly— changes her mind, she flies to frog to announce her forgiveness. And he eats her. <\/p>\n

Adrienne, did I get that right? It\u2019s been a while since I\u2019ve read it, and I don\u2019t have a copy here. Talk about making some sense out of a world children often find mysterious, as you mentioned in your intro! I think this book does that on a scientific, life-chain level (frogs eat bugs) and on a let\u2019s-face-it-life-
is-not-fair level, something children know entirely too well sometimes. Come to think of it, I\u2019d put Kevin Sherry\u2019s hysterical I\u2019m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (which perfectly captures the hubris of preschoolers) and Ugly Fish<\/strong><\/em><\/a> in the same category as Tadpole\u2019s Promise<\/em>. Sherry\u2019s book is all about the unfair turns in life, yet our protagonist doesn\u2019t let it get to him (to put it mildly), and Ugly Fish<\/em> is almost the ultimate cautionary tale for the bullies of the world: Do unto others, or else! And WAIT! These books also bring to mind last year\u2019s I\u2019d Really Like to Eat a Child<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Sylviane Donnio and illustrated by Dorothee de Monfried. The dark humor is something that, I think, might turn off a lot of parents, but I love that one. Have you seen these books, too? <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Adrienne<\/strong><\/font>: I finally read When Owen\u2019s Mom Breathed Fire<\/em> this past week when one of my colleagues gave it to me in a pile of books she was recommending I purchase to satisfy our rabid dragon fans at WPL<\/strong><\/a>. It seemed an odd choice for that and an odd book overall, more something for one of MotherReader\u2019s Weird-Ass Picture Book Awards<\/strong><\/a> than a kid who wants a book about a dragon. I kind of wondered if Owen\u2019s mother is Bipolar. I could certainly see this book as a way kids living with a parent with severe mood swings might begin to understand what\u2019s going on. Goodness knows, plenty of kids live with parents who have mental illness, and very few picture book authors are talking about it. <\/p>\n

And who could forget Tadpole\u2019s Promise<\/em>? You did get the plot right. It\u2019s interesting that all the books you mentioned in that paragraph feature characters who live in the water. Ugly Fish<\/em> made me laugh and laugh and laugh when I read it, as did I\u2019m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean<\/em>. I think the current tendency is to support children\u2019s self-esteem to a point that is almost crippling when they come up against people who will inevitably be bigger or smarter or quicker or funnier. We are all unique, but these books recognize limits, and why not do it like these books do\u2014with a sense of humor? <\/p>\n

Anger and spite seem to me to be some of the emo-
tions adults have the most trouble seeing depict-
ed in picture books, even though they\u2019re valid emotions their children are going to be dealing with. Back to Lindenbaum, who seems to be carving out her own little Demented Picture Books Niche, I think I learned about her Mini Mia and Her Darling Uncle<\/em><\/strong><\/a> from you, Jules. I love that angry little Mia and her jealousy over her favorite uncle\u2019s new boyfriend: \u201cAnd I don\u2019t see Fergus anywhere. Perhaps he died or stepped on a nail.\u201d Who hasn\u2019t felt that? It\u2019s brave of Lindenbaum to put that particular sentiment in a picture book, that\u2019s for sure. In the end, Mia\u2019s anger resolves itself with a nice, neat bow. In contrast, have you ever read Chris Van Allsburg\u2019s The Sweetest Fig<\/strong><\/a><\/em>? I\u2019m always surprised this one doesn\u2019t show up on banned-books lists. The main character is a dog, Marcel, who is forced to put up with one mean SOB of an owner\u2014a dentist, no less. The dentist is arrogant, mean, condescending, greedy. He\u2019s exactly the kind of person adults like to pretend doesn\u2019t exist, unless those people are in a position of seeing the error of their ways and repenting. The dentist sure doesn\u2019t see the error of his ways, but he pays for them. Big time. As I like to say at the end of \u201cFive Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree\u201d<\/strong><\/a>, that was a happy story for the alligator, but not so much for the monkeys. <\/p>\n

Animals happily eating other animals is aspect of a lot of these stories, \u201cThe Three Little Pigs,\u201d I\u2019m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean<\/em>, Ugly Fish<\/em>, Tadpole\u2019s Pro<\/em>mise. I can think of more: What Will Fat Cat Sit On?<\/em><\/strong><\/a> by Jan Thomas (which also uses the word \u201cF-A-T,\u201d which is, apparently, a Bad Word now in some circles) and Wolves<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Emily Gravett<\/strong><\/a>. Animals eat other animals: it\u2019s a fact of life. A lot of people are uncomfortable with this fact and seem to want to shield their children from it, which is kind of sad. The food chain drives, well, everything. It\u2019s nothing to be afraid of.<\/font><\/p>\n

Jules<\/strong><\/font>: It\u2019s funny you should say that about the food chain, Adrienne. My four-year-old is really obsessed with which animals are prey and which are predators. And I\u2019d venture to say that is perfectly normal for a child that age. You\u2019re right: It\u2019s a fact of life, and I want her to know that life can be—will often be—unfair, just as it is for the fly that a frog eats (though she\u2019s aware of her place on the food chain, that—unless she decides to hang out with, say, lions—she\u2019s not going to get eaten any time soon). But just like I believe that fairy tales are good for her and help her see that, fundamentally, life can be cruel sometimes and you just have to be brave and try to get through it (as Gretel does), I think that not simplifying something like the food chain is important, too. \u201cStraight talk about the food chain!\u201d We can make it a new slogan. <\/p>\n

And, speaking of food chain, have you seen the brand-new Hush, Little Dragon<\/a><\/em><\/strong> by Boni Ashburn<\/strong><\/a> and illustrated by Kelly Murphy<\/strong><\/a>? It brought \u201cdemented\u201d to mind for me. It\u2019s a variation on the classic folk lullaby, \u201cHush, Little Baby,\u201d but it\u2019s a wee dragon who wants a bed-time snack, and his mama dragon goes through just about every villager in the kingdom, including the king and queen, to try to feed him. More fun with the cruel, but necessary, food chain. I love it. {Kelly stopped by 7-Imp recently<\/strong><\/a> and shared a spread from it, which I’ll re-post here}:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What you had to say about children and self-esteem today made me go \u201cAHA!\u201d<\/font> and \u201cBRILLIANT!\u201d<\/font> out loud, like I\u2019m some kind of super-sleuth detective who found a clue. You nailed it. I\u2019ve had more than one conversation recently with people about some recent study that said that children who are constantly told \u201cyou\u2019re so smart!\u201d (which comes from so many parents any more to their children, and over the simplest of things) don\u2019t do as well in school as those who are told something like, \u201cyou worked really hard to do that, didn\u2019t you? Congratulations\u201d or some such utterance. And, God, someone\u2019s going to nail me on this probably and tell me I got it all wrong. I also can\u2019t quote the research study or direct you to it online, but that was the general idea of it. Anyway, yes, there\u2019s so much propping-up of kids. There\u2019s a great book called Confessions of a Slacker Mom<\/em> (included in the first 7-Imp post I ever did<\/strong><\/a>, I think) in which she talks about a lot of things, but one of them is this notion that this CONSTANT praise for children over stuff they need to be doing anyway that doesn\u2019t take any particular or impressive effort can be damaging to kids, and I can totally see that. And I mean \u201cdamaging\u201d in the way you spoke of it -\u2013 it can be crippling to kids. You\u2019re right that books like Ugly Fish<\/em> just straight-up acknowledge that some people will be faster, some will be luckier, some will be bigger, etc. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

And, yeah, \u201cfat\u201d has become a bad word in picture books, huh? So is \u201cstupid.\u201d I took a graduate course from Jack Gantos<\/a><\/strong> once, and he opened up the course with this fabulous slide show, which I\u2019ll never forget, in which he showed slides of what he thinks are the best picture books and creators (he mostly stood there, exclaiming things like \u201cMaaaaaaax!\u201d<\/strong><\/a> in his Jack-way and \u201cLily and her purse!\u201d<\/strong><\/a>, etc.). Anyway, he flashed an image of James Marshall\u2019s<\/strong><\/a> The Stupids and basically said The Stupids Die<\/strong><\/a><\/em> has to be the best picture book title ever and gets the award for Makes the Parents Squirm the Most. (Incidentally, I love this moment<\/strong><\/a> when Grandfather Stupid crashes through the living room wall on his motorcycle and informs the family that they’re in Cleveland, not heaven.)<\/p>\n

Do you know the Benny books by Barbro Lindgren and Olof Landstrom<\/strong><\/a>? I LOVE Benny. Very funny stuff from a Swedish author. Anyway, the new Benny book-\u2013-Oink, Oink Benny<\/em><\/strong><\/a>–\u2013 is out (R & S Books, April ’08 — and it\u2019s very good, I might add). Benny and his brother defy their mother and head to the mudhole to play. Lindgren totally writes, \u201cEveryone is there. Some of their friends are really dumb. Some are really nice. Klara is the nicest.\u201d And that makes my four-year-old laugh out loud. She looks at me first, as if to ask, is that okay?<\/em> And that\u2019s \u2018cause adults are always telling children not to call others \u201cstupid\u201d or \u201cdumb.\u201d I think I actually stopped myself once, after saying that, and mumbled something about the fact that some people are<\/em> actually often stupid. I\u2019m sure I confused her. <\/p>\n

And, yes, the notion that Owen\u2019s mother—in When Owen\u2019s Mom Breathed Fire<\/em>—is bipolar crossed my mind, too. <\/p>\n

Adrienne<\/strong><\/font>: I haven\u2019t seen Hush, Little Dragon<\/em> yet, although it sounds like my kind of book. <\/p>\n

I am so jealous that you got to take a graduate course with Jack Gantos (Talk about the ways in which life is unfair!), and he is so right\u2014The Stupids Die<\/em> is one of the best picture book titles ever. (Mental note to self: \u201cBest Picture Book Titles Ever\u201d would make a good topic for a blog entry). <\/p>\n

Oh, boy, and I also love Benny. Have you read Benny and the Binky<\/strong><\/a><\/em>? That one\u2019s my favorite\u2014such an honest response to a new sibling, and I love the illustrations of Benny running around all pissed off with that ridiculous stolen binky in his mouth. <\/p>\n

Jules, I could keep talking about this all day, but I\u2019m thinking that our blog readers might have something else to do with theirs. Not that we aren\u2019t going to keep talking about this every time another Slightly Demented Picture Book gets published, because we totally will.<\/font><\/p>\n

Jules<\/strong><\/font>: Benny and the Binky<\/em> is one of my favorite picture books ever. <\/p>\n

Yes, this was fun. I really hope people add their favorite demented titles. Do you think anyone\u2019s made it this far? Heh. <\/p>\n

I take my girls weekly to the fabulous story times at the Nashville Public Library\u2019s<\/strong><\/a> main library downtown, put on by three performers with Wishing Chair Productions. And one of those folks, who looks like Eisha\u2019s husband walking around on stage, always reads these great, demented picture books. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever told him how much I appreciate it that he does things like reads Ugly Fish<\/em> after someone else reads Guess How Much I Love You?<\/strong><\/a><\/em> (but I did post about it once<\/strong><\/a>). When I know Library Pete\u2019s there and gonna read, my heart is happy and I know I\u2019m in for a demented treat. <\/p>\n

Thanks for talkin\u2019 demented books with me, Adrienne. And especially for nailing in that intro what their primary charm is for us and many children everywhere. Maybe occasionally we can post addendums to our list, as new demented titles emerge in this world. Until then . . . . <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Adrienne Furness from WATAT is gracing 7-Imp with her presence again this week. This time she and I (Jules, that is) are having a conversation about our favorite Slightly Demented Picture Books. Hubba wha? you say. Adrienne will kick it all off with an explanation. Enjoy! And we hope folks will join in and add […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-co-reviews","category-picture-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1242\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}