Sure, sure, the "inner child" has become yet another trite bit of psychobabble. Perhaps that's why so many of my peers bury or entirely forget their kid energy. Hell, smarmy New Age spew is as creepy as green slime riddled with dead spiders; it makes me want to stay away from things kidlike, too.
But not after encountering teacher Jon Scieszka and illustrator Lane Smith. This dynamic duo of kiddom gives us Math Curse, a book that romps through the minefield of grade-school arithmetic.
All of us who have lost touch with our own tyrannical toddlers and are fortunate enough to stumble across Math Curse will be forced to come bowl-cut to bowl-cut with the urge to stick out the tongue ... not to mention revisit fractions with a hearty guffaw.
The book follows one hapless kid through an anxiety-laden day of word problems, nightmarish fractions, and a storm of pints, quarts, and gallons. Far from patronizing, the tone is humorous and never didactic. No adult facsimile of computational traumas here. Scieszka and Smith deliver stories any self-respecting kid can relate to (and unwittingly learn from).
My only disappointment is that the story's main character is female. Don't girls already have their heads too filled with such barbaric Barbie mantras as "Math is hard"? They need deprogramming, not more brainwashing.
Even so, Scieszka and Smith rise above this misstep to deliver an authentic, sincere, delightfully nurturing tale. Ever mindful of their young audience's sophistication, the team's wacky worldview is as sharp as a tack on a chair. These guys are clearly attuned to the cosmic chortle.
Whether or not you have kids, open this hardcover book and let your inner child run free - free enough to discover that green slime riddled with spiders is incredibly cool.
Math Curse, by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith: US$16.99. Viking Children's Books: (800) 253 6476, +1 (201) 387 0600, fax +1 (201) 385 6521.
STREET CRED
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