Friday 3 October 2014

I bought (another) book

yesterday. Oh yes, I bought another book.
The conversation with the Senior Cat went something like this,
Me: "It's P....'s birthday next Wednesday."
P....is his fourth great-grandchild.
SC: "How old?"
Me: "Two."
SC (without missing a beat): "Well when you go shopping get her a book will you?"
Me: "I just wanted you to be sure you knew I was going to do that."
And so, after the milk and the green-groceries, I prowled over to our local indie.
I didn't even have to think about choosing. I knew the perfect book was there. I picked it up and took it to the owner's daughter - she works there part-time.
"Oh, I love this!"
"Birthday present."
"Great choice. The illustrations are divine."
They are good. The book has sold many copies and the illustrations are definitely very, very important.
I took it home. The Senior Cat read it - again - before I parcelled it up ready to post. He enjoyed it too. The Senior Cat is still a kitten at heart. He loves a good picture book. (So do I. Does that make me a kitten at heart too?)
As I took it into the post office though something occurred to me. This is a book about the beach and activities at the beach. The illustrations show people at the beach dressed in the way people normally go to the beach Downunder.
Yesterday I wrote about the wearing of the burqa and I wondered how someone who wears a burqa relates to a book like that. Do they read it to their children or do they put it aside as unacceptable?
If that book is unacceptable then many other books must also be unacceptable.
I hope they aren't. I'd like "Magic Beach" by Alison Lester to work its magic on other people too.

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