Murmel Murmel Murmel
When Robin finds a baby at the bottom of a hole in her sandbox, she frantically seeks out an adult willing to care for the child.
At first, I found this book to be somewhat disturbing. Not only is finding a baby at the bottom of a hole an upsetting concept, the fact that so many adults refuse to find any time or reason to take on the responsibility for its care is very unsettling. The adults are portrayed as busy, selfish, and completely disgusted by the idea of having to care for a baby. Even worse, when she finally finds someone who "needs a baby" he trades his truck for the child.
When I first read the story to myself I wasn't sure if I would even share it with my children. But the more I thought about it the more I understood what Robert Munsch was trying to say in this book. For one thing, adults are very busy and often times seem too preoccupied with superficial things to fully appreciate what is really important. This is an idea that even the youngest children have a sense of, yet don't quite no how to express. This book expresses that idea for them while showing them that regardless of what else adults have in their lives, children are still valued, even more than a big, shiny, powerful, liberating truck. This book may also serve to ease an older sibling's mixed emotions about having a stinky, helpless, and seemingly useless new addition to his happy household by countering these negative feelings with the positive idea that he is also a caregiver, and has a very important role as the older child.
At this point, I still didn't love the story, however I felt more comfortable sharing it after I came to terms with the fact that adults aren't perfect and sometimes may seem too busy in our children's eyes, and that our children aren't perfect and may sometimes feel burdened by having a sibling.
What matters here, of course, is how the children respond to the book. I know my children like an unfamiliar book when they don't walk away and return with another book in the middle of my reading. This book passed the test. There is a lot of repetitive language and fun sounds in the text and both my three-year-old and one-year-old enjoy saying "Murmel, Murmel, Murmel" as I read. The illustrations are colorful and animated and even quite funny. For children, I think the book is useful and enjoyable, but I think adults may have a difficult time getting through the first reading. Just keep in mind that children will not use this book to find an excuse to bury their younger siblings, or sell them for a truck.
