KidLit: Are Today's Children's Writers on Drugs?

 I have a good imagination – one that gets me into no end of trouble – yet my grandaughter’s book about a Siamese cat who believes he’s a Mexican Chihuahua who falls into red chili powder and therefore thinks he’s on Mars, is beyond me. The illustrations remind me of a mind-expanding experience in high school and the plot leaves me confused and slightly uneasy. Several trips to the library support my suspicion that there is a subgenre of KidLit that may have pharmaceutical inspiration. Even the great Robert Munsch, representing the conservative end of silliness, was allegedly a pothead.

I think back to the good old days when KidLit wasn’t so over the top.  Yes, I grant you it’s possible that Dr. Seuss was hitting the sauce back in 1957 when he wrote The Cat in the Hat, but at least I can follow the plot: children left at home alone, over-dressed cat breaks in and wreaks havoc, fish in sloshing bowl lays down the law, order is restored.  The dramatic tension between fish and cat is enhanced by fish being the preferred lunch of cats. Cognitive dissonance is achieved by having the fish in charge.  Solid writing.

At this Baba’s house the favourite naptime book is the old story of Chicken Licken.  In it an acorn falls from a tree onto the head of a chick who logically assumes the sky is falling.  He sets out on a journey to inform the king of the coming disaster and along the way picks up a hen, goose, duck, drake, and turkey to join him.  Multiple repetitions produce rhythm.  Illustrations are matter of fact and outlined in black.

Eventually Chicken Licken invites a fox to join them (only children familiar with the food chain recognize the foreshadowing). The fox misdirects the troup back to her den where her youngsters devour the whole crew. Although we are spared the carnage, the presence of wafting feathers and the visual of fox kittens contentedly cleaning their paws and faces makes it clear the crew is not coming back. 

Imagination? Clearly.  But there’s also a moral here which I assumed was either a) don’t over-react b) keep the food chain in mind when choosing travelling companions.  However, when I Googled the story (clearly other people are disturbed by this too) several other interpretations surfaced: have courage, don't believe everything you're told, don't be manipulated by mass hysteria, etc. 

 Is that not a whole lot of bang for your buck from one little book? It’s a mystery that Chicken Licken never made the Pulitzer short list - there’s enough there to keep kiddie brain gears turning for days. I can just see them sitting with their little furrowed brows, thinking ‘What the hell was that about?’

So knock yourself out crazy Mexican Siamese cat-dog! This Baba’s going to stick to the tried and true, the illustrations lined in black, the fox and the chickens, the story with a moral – even if I can’t figure out what the heck it is….