Babar and Seuss

Nadine of Kiddos and Books sent me a link to Adam Gopnik's article on Babar in The New Yorker. The problem with Babar, as Gopnik explains, is the following: "Babar, such interpreters have insisted, is an allegory of French colonization, as seen by the complacent colonizers: the naked African natives, represented by the “good” elephants, are brought to the imperial capital, acculturated, and then sent back to their homeland on a civilizing mission." Gopnik disagrees with this interpretation, finding instead that the Babar books are "are a fable of the difficulties of a bourgeois life."

Check out these five facts about Dr. Seuss at the Mental Floss blog. Did you know he worked for Big Oil? Me neither. But...I did score 100% on the Dr. Seuss quiz available at the end of the page. Why? Most of the characters come from Dr. Seuss's ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book--"Big A little a, what begins with a?"

I'm back!

I'm back in Smalltown and my computer problems have been resolved. The hard drive survived!

It's going to take me awhile to dig out--especially from Forest and Carnival submissions. In the meantime, check out this article by Peter Mandel in the Chicago Tribune. Turns out The Cat in the Hat is no longer current. Here's the setup:

• "You may know that Dr. Seuss' real name was Theodor Geisel. But bet you didn't know this: The Cat in the Hat could not be published today. Repeat: It couldn't make the cut....For starters, anyone need a reminder on the basic premise here? Two little kids of maybe 6 or 7 are being harassed by a large, threatening animal and its accomplices. Worse, the two have been left for an entire day without adult supervision. 'Sally and I did not know what to say. Our mother was out of the house for the day.' Get the cops. Bring in a social worker and quick."

Poetry Friday: Overdue Library Book Edition

In honor of finally finding a library copy of Hop on Pop in my cluttered home (15 days overdue), I thought I'd share my favorite part of this early-reader classic:

Mr. BROWN
Mrs. BROWN
Mr. Brown upside down.
Pup up.
Brown down.
Pup is down.
Where is Brown?
WHERE IS BROWN?
THERE IS BROWN!
Mr. Brown is out of town.

ETA: You simply must check out Gregory K.'s Oddaptation of Hop on Pop at GottaBook. These lines made me laugh out loud: SO SLOW/This book’s so slow./OH WOE/More rhymes to go.
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Christine M. celebrates the Harvest Moon with Carl Sandburg at The Simple and the Ordinary .(It's a beautiful moon here too, Christine!) The moon's the thing at Bildungsroman/Slayground as well: Little Willow contributes "The Cat and the Moon," by William Butler Yeats.

Becky shares "Vegetables," by Eleanor Farjeon, at Farm School.

Fibs abound this week. Well, okay, there are two: Wendy shares a not-appropriate-for-children fib at Blog from the Windowsill and Gregory K. makes us laugh and eat poptarts at GottaBook.

Michele of Scholar's Blog shares Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" in honor of National Poetry Day in the U.K.

Susan Taylor Brown contributes "To her friends said the Bright one in chatter," by A. H. Reginald Buller, at Susan Writes. (It's a funny one!)

Franki reviews Roger Housden's Ten Poems to Last a Lifetime at A Year of Reading.

The Old Coot is back with by Langdon Smith's "Evolution."

Laura shares Edna St. Vincent Millay's "First Fig" in an attempt to overcome childhood poetry trauma at Tockla's World of Children's Literature. (Hey, Laura! You've picked up on one of the main points of Poetry Friday)

Late entry: Nancy from Journey Woman does not disappoint with Robert Southey's harvest poem, "God's Judgment on a Wicked Bishop." Follow Nancy's links, this is a good one.

These just in!: A recent tragedy makes Liz B. think of "A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London," by Dylan Thomas, at A Chair, a Fireplace and a Tea Cozy. And, Susan of Chicken Spaghetti directs us to "Seasons of Love" (music, video, and lyrics) from the musical Rent.

If I've missed your post, please drop me an e-mail or a comment. Happy Friday to one and all!