Crazy auntie finds purpose in life
[disclaimer: if hearing me prattle on sappily about my nephew would shatter your preconceived image of me as a twentysomething, female Andy Rooney, I beg you, avert your eyes now.]
Yesterday my sister sent me the first photo of my nephew in which he bears the remotest resemblance to me. (Oddly enough, he's smiling, something I don't think I did in a photograph until about age 22, and even then, it was pretty forced.)
I'd already been feeling a bit more like a grownup, what with being the little nipper's godparent and all. But it's a weird feeling, to see your face reflected in the next generation. It makes you feel at once like a pawn in the Universe's game, but also like you're terribly important, and should be acting more responsibly. The seriousness of life flattens you like a blow from the Whomping Willow, but at the same time, it suddenly dawns on you that up until this moment, you've been taking life much too seriously.
Kurt Vonnegut said in his famous 1973 Playboy interview that there ought to be a manual you hand to little kids when they're born, called Welcome to Earth, that describes what sort of planet they're on, and "why they don't fall off it." Maybe it's just because I work for a company that publishes them, but I know that there is such a book. It's called an encyclopedia.
So, as godparent, Crazy Auntie, and librarian, upon the little chap's first birthday, I will bestow upon him the finest children's encyclopedia I can find.
Any suggestions?
Yesterday my sister sent me the first photo of my nephew in which he bears the remotest resemblance to me. (Oddly enough, he's smiling, something I don't think I did in a photograph until about age 22, and even then, it was pretty forced.)
I'd already been feeling a bit more like a grownup, what with being the little nipper's godparent and all. But it's a weird feeling, to see your face reflected in the next generation. It makes you feel at once like a pawn in the Universe's game, but also like you're terribly important, and should be acting more responsibly. The seriousness of life flattens you like a blow from the Whomping Willow, but at the same time, it suddenly dawns on you that up until this moment, you've been taking life much too seriously.
Kurt Vonnegut said in his famous 1973 Playboy interview that there ought to be a manual you hand to little kids when they're born, called Welcome to Earth, that describes what sort of planet they're on, and "why they don't fall off it." Maybe it's just because I work for a company that publishes them, but I know that there is such a book. It's called an encyclopedia.
So, as godparent, Crazy Auntie, and librarian, upon the little chap's first birthday, I will bestow upon him the finest children's encyclopedia I can find.
Any suggestions?
posted by Christine Borne at 9:29 AM
4 Comments:
If he had been born in 1957, I would recommend without hesitation the wonderful Children's Encyclopedia. Armed with knowledge of how to build a picture frame from glass and tape, the wonders of the sea shore, stories about heroes of industrial accidents and patterns for making doll's clothes, he would be able to defend himself against anything the world threw at him.
However, I would like to add a cautionary note. Another children's encyclopedia I had showed in graphic detail how the sun would expand and swallow up all the planets, finishing: 'This will not happen for billions of years, however.' My father was woken at 3am by a little figure wondering: 'Daddy, Daddy, how long ago was this book written?'
Ha ha!
Actually, the Children's Encyclopedia would've been contemporary with the wee one's daddy. I'll wager he's got a copy lying around somewhere.....
As a fellow former Clevelander (I found your blog trying to google for a 'cleveland accent' to prove to my DC co-workers I wasn't making it up) and librarian, I'd recommend any of the following one-volume encyclopedias because there's nothing wrong with an adult encyclopedia:
The New Columbia Encyclopedia
The Random House Encyclopedia
Cambridge Encyclopedia.
If you have an unlimited budget, these are my favorite children's encyclopedias:
Compton's (unfortunately owned by Bill Gates now), World Book (22 volumes and 28,000 color plates), or Childcraft (15 volumes and over 4,600 illustrations)
thanks for the suggestion, John...I'm surprised your DC coworkers don't believe in the cleveland accent just by listening to you. the patrons at the nj library i used to work at couldn't understand a word i was saying - which was weird. i've since "toned it down." maybe you've also acquired such an "adaptive mechanism"?
i'm partial to children's encyclopedias because they always have lots of illustrations and explain things in such a charming way. then again, i learned to read using the 1980 world book (volume D - for dinosaurs and dogs, mostly...)
i used to have a 1-volume charlie brown encyclopedia. i wonder how horribly out of date that sucker would look now?
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