bad

Maybe it's like it's supposed to be a tragic love story that's got kind of a hint of poetic irony underneath it? This book upsets me. I do not like this book.

It's never stated where in "Africa" the woman is from. The only thing you ever learn about her is that she's a nurse (which is, don't get me wrong, a respectable profession). But she's basically the "Magical Negro" (TV Tropes). She's the vaguely different character who is more in touch with nature that helps the white person by giving him "deep spiritual wisdom" (TV Tropes). It's not okay to treat other cultures that way.

The best part: When Brother Bear and Sister Bear are breaking up the fight between the Nerds and the Troublemakers, Cousin Fred (a Nerd) gets involved. "'Let's remember what it says in the Bible,' said Cousin Fred who liked to memorize things. '"Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness."' 'Huh?' Said Too-Tall. 'What's that supposed to mean?' 'It means that if you make peace,' explained Ferdy, 'You will get a rich reward.' 'Oh, cool,' said Too-Tall." People don't talk like that. It's just awkward and bizarre.

I'm getting tired of this message. "Social media is bad. Social media is taking over the world. We are neglecting our real friends in favor of social media. People who are on social media all the time cannot deal with real life."

No, no, no, no. No. No. This is like "Elf on the Shelf" bad without quite as much commercialization.

The good part of the book is that Little T comes to the understanding on his own, and that nobody lectures him about sharing (well, until after he's decided it on his own). He realizes that he made a mistake, he goes back and rectifies the problem, and the reason that he starts to share is because he realizes that's what he wanted to do all along. But framing it as, "You need to always share every moment of the day," is just ridiculous. It's not going to work, either.

While I don't like the way the parents act in this book, I do like the child's solution to it. I guess some parents are like that. I'm not. It's definitely not a good book, but she's got a very creative solution to it that her parents are just bemused by. "Oh well, those kids and their blankets. What are you gonna do?"

He paid the girl, and gave her a kiss of thanks. Great. This book is traditional in many ways, including one of which is its sexist nature. The king has no female friends. They are all male. The princess doesn't do anything in the story except get her hand in marriage won.

I remembered really liking this book when I read it almost a year ago. But now that I look at it again, I'm frankly disappointed by the gender breakdown of the situations. The boy character gets to receive a pet baby elephant, rescue a princess from a dragon, portray a cowboy, be bitten by a dinosaur, be the groom at a wedding, attend the princess's ball, visit London to dine with the Queen, fly an airplane to visit the Duchess, and invite all his friends over for a party. The girl character gets to pick flowers, be rescued, be a nurse, go shopping, be the bride in a wedding, be a Princess, be a Queen, be a Duchess, and be captured.

Nothing like this would be written today. It's just so a product of its time. Even back then, I think the message was: If your family is abusive to you, suck it up because home is where you belong. Nobody would write a book with that message nowadays!