Now that Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD has completed its first season, everyone here in Whimsieville is enjoying re-watching all the episodes. However, the Whimsies confided to me that they miss having their “Round Table Discussions” about the show, and sure wouldn’t mind the opportunity to use that format to talk about other issues. I know they’ve all been hitting the bookshelves big-time lately, so I suggested they might want to initiate a Book Club of sorts, where they can share their latest literary finds with each other, and all of you. Well, you know how enthusiastic Whimsies can be about new ideas! They jumped right at this idea, and thus now, we are ready to present the Premiere Edition of The Whimsieville Book We-View!
TILLIE. So, girls! Here we are! We’ve all been reading quite a bit lately—
TESSIE. Only on rainy days! When the weather’s nice, I like to go outside and run around in the green grass with the dinosaurs!
TRIXIE. Me too!
TILLIE. Well, you all know I like to do that too. But the fact is, we have been reading a bit, and it seems we’ve all sort of chosen the same “theme” for our first Book Club Meeting.
TRIXIE. You mean the silly books?
TESSIE. (giggling) I love silly books!
TILLIE. I think everybody loves silly books! What’s not to love? Who wants to go first and share their book with the others?
TESSIE. Oh, I will! I will!
TILLIE. (moderating the discussion) Very good. And what have you brought to the table with you today, Tessie?
TESSIE. I’ve got this tiny little volume, isn’t it so cute? It’s very short, and very sweet, and very funny! It’s called Chicken Soup with Rice.
TILLIE. And who is the author?
TRIXIE. Oh! I know this author! This is Maurice Sendak, isn’t it? Isn’t he the same author that did Where the Wild Things Are?
TESSIE. Yes, he is. Another one of our favorite books. But this one is much different. It’s not scary at all.
TRIXIE. Well, I wouldn’t imagine it would be! I mean, it’s not about monsters and wild things, is it? It’s about…chicken soup???
TESSIE. Yes! Exactly. As I mentioned, it’s a very short book, just a series of poems, really, about a boy who likes to eat chicken soup with rice all…year…long. So every page is a different month. And thus we get to see the boy slipping on the ice in January, watering his roses with chicken soup in June, and even hanging bowls of chicken soup from the Christmas tree in December!
TILLIE. Oh, my! That IS silly! But Tessie, I must ask you…looking at this illustration from December here, I notice a dog in the corner, drinking—presumably chicken soup—from a bowl. It didn’t bother you to see a dog in this book?
TESSIE. Well…it did bother me a little. But only a little. Most of all, because I know it’s only a cartoon dog. But also because that dog is so intent on his chicken soup, I feel quite certain he would have no reason to try to do anyone any harm.
TRIXIE. I know what you mean. He looks like a very happy dog. I mean, look! He has all those nice people to take care of him, and plenty and plenty of chicken soup to eat. He must be a very contented dog.
TILLIE. I like this theme of seeing what you can do with chicken soup during each month of the year. I wonder if anyone has ever thought to make this book into a calendar?
TRIXIE. Oh! Wouldn’t that be just the thing? 
TESSIE. That would definitely be cute! But this book is so old now, it’s almost as old as we are, and you know how that goes. Old things are not really “mainstream.”
TILLIE. (nodding) That’s right. Old things are “nostalgic.” And sometimes they are “cultish” but they almost never never are mainstream.
TRIXIE. Well, we could make our own chicken soup with rice calendar, couldn’t we?
TESSIE. (excitedly) Oh, yes! We could! I would love to do that!
TILLIE. Another time, perhaps, Tess. Right now, let’s switch gears to talk about another book. What have you got for us, Trixie?
TRIXIE. (flipping though the pages of her book) Ooh…ooh…not yet…I’m not ready yet!
TILLIE. Well then, perhaps you don’t mind if I tell you about my book first?
TRIXIE. Not at all! Fire away!
TILLIE. (holding up her book) Okay then. What I have here is another one of those old, nostalgic books by another one of those authors that was so very popular back in the 1960’s, as far as children’s books go. This is Oh, What Nonsense, and you’ll see here that—well, it’s not exactly written by William Cole, but he chose the poems. Because it IS a collection of poems…and some of them very, very silly.
TESSIE. And I see here also that it was illustrated by Tomi Ungerer. Is that a misspelling of Tommy?
TILLIE. No, not at all! Tomi Ungerer is a writer and artist from France, and he did a ton of children’s books, mostly back in the 60’s and 70’s.
TRIXIE. So Tomi is a French name?
TILLIE. One would assume so.
TESSIE. And what kind of silliness lies within those pages?
TILLIE. Well, let me read you just a little from one of my favorite poems here. It’s called “The Folks Who Live in Backwards Town,” and here it is:
The folks who live in Backwards Town
Are inside out and upside down.
They wear their hats inside their heads,
And go to sleep beneath their beds.
They only eat their apple peeling
And takes their walks across the ceiling.
TRIXIE. (laughing) Geez! That IS silly!
TILLIE. And look at the pictures! That man is putting his hat inside his head!
TESSIE. I know! That’s…that’s actually a little scary…
TILLIE. Well, if you think that’s scary, how about this one?
As I was going out one day
My head fell off and rolled away!
But when I saw that it was gone,
I picked it up and put it on.
TESSIE. (flabbergasted) WHAT??? You’re kidding, right?
TRIXIE. (grabbing the book and flipping through the pages) Actually, Tess, people’s heads coming off seems to be a recurring theme in this book.
TILLIE. I’m telling you, it’s silly. It’s nonsense! That’s why the book is called Oh, What Nonsense!
TESSIE. (shivering) Well…I’m not so sure I like THAT kind of nonsense. That kind of nonsense is likely to give me bad dreams!
TRIXIE. Well then, Tess, you probably really won’t like my book. It’s called Beastly Rhymes, and it’s by Jack Hanrahan and Phil Hahn, and I’ve got to tell you these guys have a most peculiar sense of humor!
TESSIE. I can tell already I don’t like it! Look at the cover! It’s a dog! It’s a dog who hangs from a tree and licks your ear when you walk by! Eeeewww!
TRIXIE. Yeah, but it’s just a cartoon dog. There isn’t really a dog like that. And there isn’t really something like this either:
Who put the Fink, in Mother’s sink?
I don’t know, but he’s got to go.
TILLIE. Haha! Look at that Fink! He actually looks kind of cute, I think!
TRIXIE. Till! You made another poem!
TILLIE. I didn’t mean to!
TRIXIE. Well, I guess that’s what reading poems can do to you. They make you…poetic!
TESSIE. Oh no! Look at this one! The Heebie-Jeebies:
A case of Heebie-Jeebies arrived today—ALACK!
I wish I knew who sent it, ‘cause I’d love to send it back!
TILLIE. (grabbing the book from Tessie) Oh! I see what’s happening here! Look at some of the other poems: The Bad Omen, the Roaring Success, The Missing Link…
TRIXIE. Yeah…what’s going on here?
TILLIE. These are all sayings that people use to describe certain kinds of situations. And Mr. Hanrahan and Mr. Hahn just made up fake creatures to show what they would look like…if there really was such a creature!
TESSIE. (still shivering) I’m glad there’s NOT. I’m glad it’s all make believe.
TRIXIE. Me too! Because I certainly wouldn’t want to run into the Harem-Scarum!
TILLIE. Or the Raging Inferno!
TESSIE. You know, after looking at the books you girls have chosen, now I am quite convinced: that little doggie eating the chicken soup in December is nothing to be afraid of at all!
TILLIE. Does this mean you’re going to stop being afraid of dogs?
TESSIE. Well…I wouldn’t go THAT far. But looking at all these other crazy pictures and reading all these crazy poems you two have come up with makes me realize…maybe there are scarier things in the world than dogs!
TILLIE. But it’s not supposed to be scary! It’s supposed to be funny!
TRIXIE. And it IS funny. But I see where Tess is coming from. Some of these poems and pictures can be a little unnerving for the super-sensitive.
TESSIE. Are you calling me super-sensitive?
TRIXIE. I am! But it’s not a bad thing! It’s a good thing!
TILLIE. That’s right. You’d much rather be sensitive than…than like this fellow here from my Nonsense book…Mr. Kartoffel, a whimsical man, who drinks his beer from a watering can!
TRIXIE. Ugh! Beer! Ugh! From a watering can!
TESSIE. Yes, but the poem says he’s “whimsical.” Does that mean he’s like us?
TILLIE. Believe me, Tess. None of the characters in any of our books are anything like us.
TESSIE. Well, I disagree. I like the boy who likes the chicken soup. He always has a big smile on his face.
TRIXIE. And so do we!
TESSIE. Exactly!
And so, though our discussion got a little rough in the middle there, it ended on a high note, with smiles all around. 🙂
