March 1, 2010
Books in Motion #3
Today was a small girl wearing rainboots and riding a scooter that zipped past me on the sidewalk, a hardcover tucked in her brightly coloured basket. I caught up with her at the corner and inquired about the book she was transporting. And it turned out that this was not just any little girl, but a kind of strange one who is irresistible to adults but probably has trouble making friends her own age, and for four blocks she talked to me about the Lemony Snickett series, and how there are thirteen of them, and if I haven’t read them yet, I should. They’re about children whose parents die, and they have a guardian who only wants them for their fortune (and she pronounced “tune” in “fortune” like a song, and she kept saying it over and over.) Though I promised to read them, I probably won’t, but all the same, the little girl was the most delightful person I have encountered ever, like a character out of a book herself.
They ARE cute books! Well, at least the first few are pretty great; I stopped reading after #4 or 5. I imagine they get a bit derivative. Besides the obvious awesomeness of orphaned children making their way in the world, there is much danger lurking around virtually every corner. And the gimmick is vocabulary–lots of big words and the kids figure out the definitions, sometimes to their peril.
Oh, but you can’t break book-related promises. Especially those made to eager young readers in rainboots who likely lack friends in their own agegroup. It just isn’t done.