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Stuff I'm Reading

 I've avoided writing about James Marshall for so long, and now please just bear with me. I have to describe one story that I can't stop thinking about.


It's "The Fibber." How can you go wrong after that succinct, enticing title? It's George the hippo doing that thing we all do -- puffing himself up to impress another citizen. George casually mentions that he has been a champion snake tamer, and that he has smashed records in "the high jump."

Martha grows weary, and she foists a stuffed snake on George. And George can't take this; he admits, "I told some fibs." And Martha gently says, "For shame" -- we can imagine that these words have a "loving" tone.

I enjoy this because George behaves so outrageously -- and because Martha is a cool customer. I feel I have *been* both of these hippos. And I love the suspense; a lie is a transgression, and for a long while, we're just not sure if George will be "caught."

I'd teach this in grad school, if I had to design a syllabus.

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