Simon Rich and Tom Toro have dreamed up a monologue for a backpack, which spends its summer in splendid quiet with the vacuum cleaner. (The book is "Back to School, Backpack!")
September is a brutal time for the backpack: It must spring into action. It's strapped to a back, so that it is facing backwards; it can't tell what is approaching. It gets slammed against walls, jammed into filthy cubbies, conscripted into games of "monkey in the middle." It must cope with the harsh fluorescent lighting of school hallways, the unpleasant smells, the sharp-cornered math and grammar textbooks.
Only the arrival of a sympathetic friend--a fellow backpack--eases the pain. It's not that this new companionship will *erase* the difficulties of school. But: Knowing someone hears you can make the challenges more tolerable.
This is essentially a new spin on "Wemberly Worried," or "Timothy Goes to School." It's worth a look.
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