a chuckle

I love to read. I know you shouldn't use that word too often, and it is overused - the word "love." So let me rephrase, I take great delight in reading. I don't just like to read my chick lit books, or even the classics, or non fiction, or drama, etc I like to read children's books. There is something about children's books that hold a certain appeal. There is this scent to them. They make me laugh. They make me wistful. They make me remark at life. They are in many ways the essence of life, they hold so many elements of what life should be and is, and they delight in the story.

With all that being said I have to share two scenes from two books that I've been reading with Marissa recently.

The first is from "Howler" by Michael Rosen. The story is told from the family dog's point of view. The mother in the story gets pregnant, and when the baby comes the dog is suddenly left in the dark. As to find a remedy to his slighting he does the following:

"And then I came up with my great plan. I got friendly with Ruff-ruff. Her pet human is Trixie. So while Rex and Cindy and Rover were busy with Howler, I spent some time with my friend Ruff-ruff.

Not long after Ruff-ruff got bigger. Not longwards. Outwards. And then one day she had five small ones. Ruff-ruff called them Rufflets. I thought they all ought to be called Small Me, but I wasn't asked."

Everytime I read it I just want to laugh, at the very least smile so as not to induce too many questions from Marissa as to my chuckling. But here in this children's book the dog's grand plan is to get "friendly" with his next door neighbor dog!!!

Second scene of amusement comes from "Four Scary Stories" by Tony Johnston. There is an imp, a goblin, and a scalawag and each them want to share a scary story, however they can't decide who will tell their story first. The Imp has already shared at the start of this conversation between the three:

"That was such a scary story that the goblin, the scalawag, and even the imp himself shrieked and hid in a big kettle by the fire. They all laughed. And their voices were very big inside the kettle. Big and scary. And they loved that.

'My turn,' said the goblin, hopping out.
'No, mine,' said the scalawag, right behind.
'No, mine,' said the imp loudly in his pointed ear.
'You just had a turn,' scowled the scalawag.
'I know,' said the imp. 'I was just trying to settle the argument.'
'Who's arguing?' growled the scalawag.
'You,' howled the goblin.
'Well, I'm not,' said the imp.
'Oh, yes you are. You argue just for fun.'
'Well, the most fun will be when I sock you one, you melon head!'
'Melon!' cried the goblin. 'That reminds me of a scary story.'

And he started before anyone else could."

So perhaps not as amusing to you as to me, because this one for me immediately brought to mind three friends, who could so easily be the imp, goblin, and scalawag - just don't tell them I said that!! But *laugh* I can see them now, so clearly, so vividly. Just this weekend they enacted the above scene, unknowingly, of course!

I like how the imp just gets into the argument for the sake of arguing, and then the goblin essentially just does what he wants, where the scalawag is still concentrating on the argument at hand.

I am thinking perhaps I need to rethink my decision about further schooling, I am starting to analyze children's books!!!