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Gay Dad

 Susan Meddaugh worked with James Marshall--she called him "Jimmers"--and, eventually, Meddaugh had writing ideas of her own.

Meddaugh's masterpiece--"Martha Speaks"--borrows from the famous first sentence of "Where the Wild Things Are." That sentence: "The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief.....his mother called him WILD THING...."

Meddaugh's opening: "The day Helen gave Martha dog a taste of alphabet soup, something unusual happened."

The soup travels to Martha's brain--not to her gut--and Martha dog suddenly acquires verbal abilities. The talking is cute until it isn't; Martha talks too much. Her family scolds her harshly. She swears never to speak, or to eat alphabet soup, again, but a crafty robber arrives. Hunger-Strike Martha has forgotten her own rules of sentence construction; she cannot notify anyone about the robber's forced entry. Hoping to make Martha go away, the robber tosses her (Martha) some alphabet soup.

Of course, the soup re-triggers Martha's speaking ability, Martha calls the cops, and the rest is history. Martha and family are reunited--happy once again.

I like this one very much because of the twisty plotting, but also because of the images. The clashing upholstery, the odd little portrait of Grandma, the green sharks on Helen's bizarre shorts: Delightful. This is an inspiring work of art.




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