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On Picture Books

 












James Marshall named his famous hippos after the central characters in 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf."


So he liked Edward Albee. I can't help but wonder if he liked yet another gay playwright, Thornton Wilder.

Wilder wrote "Shadow of a Doubt," which opens with a ne'er-do-well in a tense conversation with the woman who runs his boardinghouse. And Marshall wrote "Rapscallion Jones," which opens with a ne'er-do-well having a tense conversation with the woman who runs his boardinghouse.

Additionally, Rapscallion wears a Yale sweater--makin
g a subtle reference to Thornton Wilder's alma mater.

Rapscallion desperately needs rent money, so he ponders (1) marrying a rich widow, (2) writing a novel, (3) stealing from a pair of alligators. The alligators mistakenly think RJ is a doctor, and they're dealing with chocolate poisoning. "Just jump on your bed," says Rapscallion. "It redistributes the chocolate throughout your system. Jump until I tell you to stop."

I see myself in Rapscallion--and I love the end of his story, which is both surprising and inevitable.

Two thumbs up.
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