my favorite book as a seven year-old
Oh, and that book I was looking for that I alluded to in a previous post? Here it is.
I had neither read nor seen this book in quite a few years. Probably a good quarter century. I opened the cover and the narrative voice came rushing back. Rediscovering the images was like unearthing a time capsule I myself had planted as a child. I'm sure these are experiences common to folks who take the trouble to materially touch a book they were obsessed with long ago and have not seen in years.
But for this particular book, the amazement factor only grew as I read the tale, because the story resonates in a very contemporary way.
To put it in present social art parlance, the story is about spatial justice. In short, two girls, one shy and one brave, plus an old lady who peddles cookies, together set up what we might today call a squat. The little house is unoccupied, after all. And all the prospective renters for whatever reason didn't work out. So they take it!
I won't spoil the ending (except to say, the shy girl steps up!), but will say this–if sometimes the real world worked like this, we'd all be better off.
Adding to the contemporary meaning, at least as a shadow figure, is the fact that the author, Eleanor Clymer, turns out to be the mother of Adam Clymer, the journalist made nationally famous for fifteen minutes when George W. Bush pointed him out to Dick Cheney from the podium as a 'major league asshole from the New York Times' and the mics picked up the insult.
