Hello everyone, I am back with my report on Taking Care of Terrific. I hope you are all keeping up with the reading now that there are 2 of us and we have been reading so much lately. TCoT is an easy one to knock off but incredibly rewarding as I will explain.
It is great to read a book that so completely reflects one’s world view, but it is also hard to say if you in the audience will enjoy it as much. It is like the best, smartest students I’ve ever had–are they really the best and the smartest or are they simply on my wavelength? Deep down I think they are the best and the smartest and they are just like me (ha-ha!) and that is what I think about this book too. The other question is, since I read this book before at a somewhat impressionable age, did TCoT form my whole personality? In any case, Enid/Cynthia says many things that I still say many times per day such as scathing/funny snap judgments of typical parents and sticking up for bums in the park.
I don’t want to give the story away even to other people who read it before because it is full of little bits you will have forgotten. But I will just say that it is a good book if any of the below apply:
-you had or longed for a rad babysitter when you were little
-you were or longed to be a rad babysittter
-your parents kind of sucked while trying to do their best
-you were able to or longed to roam around a big city by yourself when you were younger
-you like touristy things, big city parks, or community organizing
-if you liked the end of Lost in Translation.
I know the last one is weird but what they have in common is cross-generational, extra-familial friendship, which I think is very important and underrated.
Although it is written for kids younger than 14 the writing is just fine and has lots of sophisticated things that 14 year olds these days probably wouldn’t get right off the bat but they would be able to learn about. For those of us that are now in a position to hire a babysitter while we go to harpsichord lessons, it is an excellent gut check to see if we have gone over to the dark side or not. Personally I would be thrilled to have Enid take my little angel to the park for a few hours a day.
