Overanalyzing Children's Books
So there has been a lot of Busytown love around our house, centered in particular, this week, on Cars and Trucks and Things that Go.
In general, I would say that if you ever have an opportunity to travel to Busytown, DO NOT GO. You'd think it would be fun because you could drive in a pickle car and visit Lowly Worm, but the chances of you falling, having something sprayed or dumped on you, or being caught in a horrible vehicular accident are basically 100 percent. The denizens of Busytown are so generally incompetent, in fact, that I've started to imagine it as some sort of Island-of-Doctor-Moreau-esque experimental location, filled with the tragic cheerful-but-mentally-deficient failed byproducts of genesplicing.
However, Cars & Trucks & Things That Go has, at least, introduced me to my new favorite Scarry character. Allow me to quote:
Say! Who is that making a mess of the [highway lane] line? That's not Goldbug, is it? No, it can't be Goldbug. He would never do a thing like that. That fellow must be Maniacbug.
And just for emphasis, he is also labeled. Stare into face of insanity and be forever changed:
I also came across this Flickr comparison of the 1963 and 1991 editions of the Best Word Book Ever. Kind of interesting to see what has been changed. My favorite is the relabeling of "beautiful screaming lady" and "brave hero" to "cat in danger" and "fire fighter", respectively.
In general, I would say that if you ever have an opportunity to travel to Busytown, DO NOT GO. You'd think it would be fun because you could drive in a pickle car and visit Lowly Worm, but the chances of you falling, having something sprayed or dumped on you, or being caught in a horrible vehicular accident are basically 100 percent. The denizens of Busytown are so generally incompetent, in fact, that I've started to imagine it as some sort of Island-of-Doctor-Moreau-esque experimental location, filled with the tragic cheerful-but-mentally-deficient failed byproducts of genesplicing.
However, Cars & Trucks & Things That Go has, at least, introduced me to my new favorite Scarry character. Allow me to quote:
Say! Who is that making a mess of the [highway lane] line? That's not Goldbug, is it? No, it can't be Goldbug. He would never do a thing like that. That fellow must be Maniacbug.
And just for emphasis, he is also labeled. Stare into face of insanity and be forever changed:
I also came across this Flickr comparison of the 1963 and 1991 editions of the Best Word Book Ever. Kind of interesting to see what has been changed. My favorite is the relabeling of "beautiful screaming lady" and "brave hero" to "cat in danger" and "fire fighter", respectively.