Thursday, November 22, 2007

Ahh... The Dichotomy

I just finished reading it!
Good Granny / Bad Granny.
It’s fabulous.
I, [an old guy] love children’s books.

And as such, I am not sure who will love this book more, the kids being read to, or the adults that are reading it to them!
The latter will be snickering, and alternating between nodding and shaking their heads. The kids will just be giggling.

“Good Granny prepares nourishing lunches of salads and whole wheat bread.”
“Bad Granny orders fried chicken by the bucket, with a side order of fries.”

“Good Granny takes her grandchildren to the mall to shop for educational toys.”
“Bad Granny takes them to the mall and teaches them to max out their parents’ credit cards.”

The above examples are two of my favorites in this new book.
Written by Mary McHugh, and wonderfully illustrated by Patricia Storms.
With each turn of the page, a reader, [or listener] is greeted by a new dichotomy of the ages-old conflict between Good and Evil…. no, not so much “evil” just bad.
Good to the left ←→ Bad to the right.
And no, not so much “bad” even, as “flawed”.

Or hmmm… delightfully misguided! As so many grannies tend to be.
Let’s face it, it’s the bad grannies that give us the giggle-moments.

In fact, this is perhaps the only downside to this book.
It is sure to engender a two-fold conundrum.
Firstly, kids will wish that their “good” or even half-bad grannies were a bit more badder.
And secondly, “good” or even half-good grannies will be reading and thinking, “You know. That second scenario does sound like a lot more fun!”

“Good Granny takes her children to the science museum and walks them through the giant model of the beating heart.”
“Bad granny takes her grandchildren to Daytona Beach and drives them around the track at 180 miles per hour.”


And as for me?

The old guy?
Well, my chances of ever being a grandparent [good OR bad] are slim to none.
However…
another book by Mary McHugh might be just the thing for me.



More about Mary.
More about Patricia.


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