A Mo Willems memory!

 

I read somewhere that old books are like old family albums….they bring back memories! I couldn’t agree more! I have always found it nostalgic to browse some of the books that I had read as a young girl – all those Nancy Drew or Hardy boys adventures or the Malory Tower series by Enid Blytons or the Jane Austen classics or the Blandings and Jeeves Series by P G Wodehouse or some of the Jeffery Archer fiction or the legal thrillers by John Grisham …..Ah! How I wish I could turn back time and relive those books once again! The old books also spark memories of the  days that were, for instance, Nancy Drew adventures has me thinking of my middle school days or John Grisham’s books take me back to my college days when I aspired to become a lawyer (though I stopped reading them once I became a lawyer!) or “A Suitable Boy” by Vikram Seth brings back fond memories of a time immediately after my marriage when I had read it. It’s the same with some picture books that you might have read to your little one! Recently I stumbled upon one such gem at the British library that transported me back to our good old  Hillsboro library of Portland, US. I couldn’t help but pick it up to relive those memories with Abhay…..after all memories are all we have of the time gone by!  

Surprisingly Abhay had no recollection of that book, considering that he remembers many of the Mo Willems books that I used to read to him regularly. This one is titled “"Naked Mole Rat gets dressed"” by one of our all time favorite authors, Mo Willems of the Knuffle Bunnyfame.  Unfortunately not many of his books are available in India and I have them picked up through a friend or a relative visiting from the US. If somebody from Hyperion Books is reading this, please include India in your distribution network.  So today I had Abhay read another book by Mo Willems titled “Should I share my ice cream?” an Elephant and Piggie Adventure that Abhay so loves. Elephant loves ice-creams and jumps to buy one ice-cream cone for himself. Just as he is about savour his "awesome, super, sweet, tasty and yummy ice-cream", he wonders if he should share the ice cream with his best friend Piggie, who loves ice cream too. To share or not to share – that is the question that bothers Elephant to no respite! The Elephant at first tries to rationalize why it would be wrong to share an ice cream with Piggie which is of a flavor not to Piggie's liking until he gives in to his conscience and admits that the flavor of his ice cream is indeed of Piggie’s liking! Elephant then lets his devious side in as he finds no reason to share when Piggie is not around and she needn’t know at all! But being the loyal friend he is, Elephant decides to share his ice cream with his friend after all…but alas! it’s too late as the ice cream melts down and falls to the ground!  Elephant is inconsolable when Piggie walks in and cheers him up with an ice cream in hand!  And they eat happily ever after! J I have had Abhay read this book a number of times and loves the way Abhay nods to Elephant’s reasoning for not wanting to share the ice cream…..a hilarious book that helps children understand the value of sharing without being too preachy. Read “Should I share my ice cream?” to your little one over an ice cream of course!