Read Aloud Reflections

In the past fortnight I've taken my kids to the library twice, which is really unusual for me. I like libraries in general, but my local one here just doesn't click with me, although now I've started to order inter-library loans I may well appreciate them more.

Among other picture books, we borrowed Stone Soup by Marcia Brown. It is a Caldecott Honor book and was first published in 1947, based on an old French tale of three soldiers who come to a small village and ask for some food and a place to stay the night. I have read it to the kids three time now and I find myself adding more commentary each time I read it. One way of looking at this book is to see the lack of generosity of the village folk and reflect on it with sadness, but then be pleased when they decide to share what they have as they all ultimately contribute to the village feast. So on the surface, this book is about how much better it is to give than to withold mercy. The problem that I have with the book is its underlying theme that the ends justify the means. The villagers do not just choose to share what they have, rather they are fooled by the three soldiers' trickery. Inherent in the story is the belief that it was okay for the soldiers to trick the villagers, because the villagers needed to learn to share. I disagree. Indeed, as a Christian I have been convicted that good ends do not justify evil means. God looks at our heart, He sees our motives and He also sees our choices, and He will judge us for them. We cannot choose evil simply because it is expedient.

In my second trip to the library, Joshua chose Anansi Finds a Fool by Verna Aardema, also a re-telling, this time based on a tale from the Ashanti people of Ghana, in Western Africa, first published in Akan-Ashanti Folk-tales by Robert S Rattray (1930). Briefly, this story tells of Anansi planning to find a fool who will partner with him to go fishing and do all the work. Another villager (Bonsu) decides to go fishing with him. It is Bonsu who, forewarned of Anansi's plans, slyly tricks Anansi to do the work, until he finally concludes "Anansi, you were looking for a fool to go fishing with. You didn't have far to look. You were the fool yourself." This book follows much the same vein as Stone Soup. It is assumed that because Anansi was planning to trick Bonsu, it is just and reasonable for Bonsu to get in first and trick Anansi, to teach him a lesson. Yet Anansi does not appear to learn any lesson at all, and Bonsu debases himself in his own use of trickery. In the last scene, Anansi's wife (who had gossiped of Anansi's plans in the first place) laughs so hard at his foolishness that her water jar falls off her head. She is a terrible example of what a wife can be in her disrespect for her husband, yet there is no lesson to be taught to her.

I was very disappointed in these books. They have reminded me, however, of the caution I need to take when reading moralistic tales that were not conceived within a Christian paradigm. Aesop's Fables are on our read aloud list for the future along with other traditional favourites, and I can see I will need to do more pre-reading than I had thought.