MY CHILDISH LOVE

I found the cutest, most whimsical little story blogs that I have seen in some time, through another friend’s blog recommendation. Here it is: My Milk Toof, created by Inhae. The blog chronicles the adventures of two little milk teeth, Ickle and Lardee, and is simply too sweet for words.

This reminds me some of my best loved children’s stories. I love classic children’s stories. I read them when I am tired of romance and intrigue, of twisting plots and unexpected happenings. I read them when I need a break from the jadedness and cynicism of adult life, when I feel like I need a breath of fresh air. Somehow, children’s stories of today don’t do it for me, there is too much of the adult world in the popular ones, too much pop culture. Some others are just plain bad writing.

I love the Saint Exupery’s The Little Prince. In fact, I have not met anyone who isn’t moved by it to some extent, whether they really understand the underlying themes or messages in the story. The writing itself is just so powerful, somewhat haunting and somewhat sad. I seldom read the book, for all that I love it so much, because it inevitably makes me feel tearful and sad the rest of the day.

Another book that reminds me of The Little Prince, but is far more cheerful and uplifting, is A.A Milne’s Winnie-The-Pooh. Bet there are any number of people who still does not know that Winnie-the-Pooh and his gang is not a Disney creation, but that of a doting father who has a son who loves bedtime stories and has a roomful of toys. I did not know myself until SB very kindly urged me to read the book. The writing is very whimsical, and peppered with asides from the author to his son, which makes it all the sweeter. It gives me a real cozy and warm feeling reading it, like snuggling up close to the fireplace with a loved one in winter. It reminds me of The Little Prince because it reads so fresh and simple.

Another one of my all time favourites is The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, and illustrated by Jules Feiffer. Engaging storyline aside, I love how the author has managed to work in pills of complex philosophical ideas coated with the beauty, flexibility and sheer confusion of the English language into the story. Word play has never been manipulated so skillfully as in The Phantom Tollbooth, and philosophical ideas have never been presented so simply. This has to be a staple for anyone who loves the English language. Readers will also definitely get the “Why did I never think of it that way?” moments throughout the whole story.

Before Harry Potter, there was Narnia. Mary Poppins was my choice of nanny, not Fran Drescher. I grew up on Louisa May Alcott (Little Women Series), Lucy Maud Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables Series), Frances Hodgson Burnett (The Secret Garden, A Little Princess), Laura Ingalls Wilder (The Little House Series), Edith Nesbit (The Railway Children, Five Children and It etc). Heidi, Black Beauty, What Katy Did, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Swiss Family Robinson, Treasure Island…..And Roald Dahl….who can forget Roald Dahl?

Some of the greatest and most enduring children stories also have great illustrators behind them. In fact I would venture to say that The Little Prince would not have been half so impactful, if not for the masterful strokes of Saint Exupery. For indeed, we would never know what a sheep should look like, or how a boa constrictor could swallow a whole elephant, without seeing it in pictorial form. And how can we picture the sheer evilness of The Witches without Quentin Blake’s whimsical pen? I dare say Winnie-the-Pooh would never have become a Disney favourite if not for Ernest Shepard’s talented scribblings.

Back to the story of the two milk teef (yes, the creator spelled the word like this…). It has all the makings of an enduring children’s storybook if someone ever decides to make a book out of it. It is good to know that there are people in the world who have not lost that freshness of vision.