We read a LOT of books around here (and are known to watch the occasional tv show/movie/youtube video of fireworks). Here are a couple of summaries of some of the wee gremlin’s favorites, in no particular order:

Sarah & Duck: a British tv show about a girl named Sarah. She has a duck. In one episode, they’re watching their neighbor’s pet donkey, and whilst in the middle of counting grass, they notice he looks sad. So they go to the library, where they find out he’s not sad, he just looks that way. Everyone goes to the park. This is one of the livelier plotlines. Thrilling!

 

Dinotopia: a whole series of books about a lost island of indecipherable size, populated by dinosaurs and people. A scientist walks around, meeting people & dinosaurs, and only pays attention to science when it suits him. Disregard everything you learned about evolution, logic, and the basic laws of physics before entering here. Discovery!

 

Dragons Love Tacos: there are dragons. They love tacos. Spicy salsa is too spicy though, and they burn a small boy’s house to the ground. Tacos!

 

The Cat In The Hat: young children are left alone for an inappropriate amount of time, and an enormous talking cat breaks in. He ignores their pleas to leave, insisting that he’s “just here to have fun.” Eventually their mother is spotted coming back, and he panics and leaves, erasing all evidence he was ever there. The children wonder whether or not they should tell their mother about the intruder. Hilarious!

 

The Ramayana: this isn’t even meant for children, but now the Kraken’s got hold of it he won’t give it back. Animals and demons are violently sliced in half, a woman is abducted and threatened with either rape or death, a deeply creepy codependent relationship between brothers is never questioned, and there’s a flying magic monkey. A classic!

 

Click, Clack, Moo: farm animals discover the benefits of collective bargaining. Communism!

 

We Found A Hat: two tortoises discover a hat while on a vision-quest in the desert. The hat either represents the key to lifelong satisfaction, or a hat; it’s never clear which. One tortoise considers betraying the other, but there’s a trippy dream-within-a-dream, flying-through-space-in-hats sequence, and he learns the true value of friendship. And hats. Don’t do drugs, kids!

 

How This Book Was Made: an in-depth exploration of the publishing business, including a searing examination of the use of cheap third world country labor. Also, arm-wrestling tigers. Growl!

 

I left out all the deeply disturbing fairy tales, myths, legends, and folklore, because pointing out how creepy those are could be its own graduate thesis.

Except for The Ramayana. That’s a major Hindu myth.

Okay, I haven’t used any logic at all here, other than the first books that randomly came to mind.

Word to your mother.