Literary CriticismMy mother came over yesterday to visit with Charlie. Our living room was littered with toys and board books. As my mother sat on the couch, she picked up a Baby Einstein book about colors.
"This is SO stupid," she remarked flipping the pages. "It says, 'Gustav Klimt'. And then you flip the page and it says 'green'. Now what kid is going to know that?"
"I think it's just trying to teach colors, Mom," I said.
"No." She was irritated. "It doesn't even have a plot!"
"Well, what do you expect? It's to teach colors."
She threw the Baby Einstein book into the laundry basket where we store Charlie's toys. She fished out another book and flipped through it quickly.
"Circus McGurkus?" she remarked, looking at the book. "What kind of stupid book is this?"
"It's Dr. Seuss," I said.
"Well, it's got a stupid plot."
"Mom, they're books for babies. They are not
War and Peace. They don't have complicated plots or even plots at all. It's supposed to be about concepts."
She gave me her disguted look and then picked up another book. This one is a board book about Spiderman.
"That one has plot," I told her.
"This is no good. It will set the kid up to have unrealistic expectations," she said, giving me her disgusted face. "Look at this!" She held up the book and pointed a picture of Spiderman hanging upside down from a tree by using his web. "Your kid's gonna grow up thinking her can do this and he won't be able to-"
"Who's to say he won't be able to?" said my husband.
"I'm just saying that you're setting up unrealistic expectations," my mom said emphatically.
