About Books

 I like to quote Curtis Sittenfeld: "The greatest of literary characters is Arnold Lobel's Toad, who is almost always the author of his own problems. He cannot get out of his head."

The famous example: Toad has a ridiculous bathing suit. Instead of laughing at himself, and moving on, he attempts to design a setting in which *no one* will look at the bathing suit. This elaborate plot only helps to make the suit seem more and more hilariously awful--and Toad sputters with rage. The End.

Lobel's heir is Jon Klassen, who wrote "The Fall." In this story, a turtle climbs up on a rock, then stumbles to the ground, landing on his shell. He is mortified. A friendly armadillo asks if an accident has occurred--and the turtle denies the obvious. He then rejects an offer of help. He can't manage his own sense of chagrin, so he directs all of his frustration at the armadillo. "Will you nap with me?" asks the armadillo, and the turtle says, NO. I NEVER NAP.

In the final image, both little creatures are napping, in the shade of the enormous rock.

The words and illustrations are so spare and simple--but nothing is wasted. Klassen has pared down to "the essential." It seems to me that this kind of elegant story requires a great deal of work.