He Bravely Ran Away*
By Glinda
We are big on books here at the Glinda household, and we try to read with our son every chance we can get.
About seven months ago, the Munchkin was in an extremely all-encompassing pirate phase. Everything had to be pirate, from his toys, to his movies, to his clothes.
In an effort to tie into this, my husband went to the library and got an adapted version of “Treasure Island.” I didn’t know this until I saw him walking towards the Munchkin’s room at bedtime with the book in his hand.
“Don’t you think he’s a little young for that book?” I asked him.
“Aw, no way! It’s a classic! You can never go wrong with a classic!” was the reply.
I tried to dissuade him from starting the book, because even though it’s been a while since I last came into literary contact with the Black Spot, I felt that the overall tone of the book was too mature. Even an adapted version. But he insisted, and into the room he went to begin one of the best pirate books ever written, to be sure.
A couple of nights later, my husband and I were talking and he brought up the book.
“You were right” he said. “I think the book just kind of went over his head a little.” My husband leaned toward me, “And there was this part where one of the pirates was killed, and I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to come right out and say it, it just seemed a little too much for a four year old to handle.”
“So what did you do?” I asked. “Did you tell him that the pirate went to sleep for a really long time or something?”
“No.” he responded. “Worse. I had to make it up on the spot.”
“Well what else could you have said?”
“I told him the pirate ran away and was never seen again.”
Ahhh, don’t they say that parenthood is fraught with many teaching moments?
Well, my husband took his opportunity. He taught the Munchkin that apparently, being a coward is better than being dead.
*10 worthless points for the first person to guess the movie in which this line was uttered. Er, sung, really.
January 16th, 2008 at 7:43 am
I’m thinking Monty Python and the Holy Grail, speaking (singing) of the brave Sir Robin.
January 16th, 2008 at 7:50 am
Monty Python’s Holy Grail? “Brave, brave Sir Robin.”
January 16th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
My husband and 4 y.o. checked out “Kidnapped” (Robert Louis Stevenson) from the library last November, and they still haven’t finished it. Though the boy enjoyed the exciting kidnapping part, both of them complain that all the characters do now is trudge through the heather for chapters on end.
BTW, I wouldn’t worry so much about the death parts. I think the kids have their own way of handling it. Disney has death everywhere and the kids seem to get through it.
January 16th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
“How I became a Pirate” and “Pirates Don’t Change Diapers” are excellent pirate books for a four year old. My six year old loves them, especially if you do the voices of the pirates as if they were Salty Dogs.
January 16th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Yay for gamma, who was first to guess Monty Python and the Holy Grail! And gemdiva was only seven minutes behind with her guess!
@Seana- We do have those books, and I agree with you that they are excellent!
January 16th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Clay Aiken (is that right? some B-rate singer, I think) is going to play Sir Robin in the stage version. I saw a photo and he does, indeed, look like a brave, runaway Sir Robin.
January 16th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Clay Aiken, burdened as he is with the most batshit-insane assemblage of fans in all the storied history of stardom, has chops. The boy can sing.
I agree that “the pirate died” is something even four-year-olds can cope with. It’s not like they went to playgroup with him. But Treasure Island is indeed a bit meaty for a kid that young; Hamlet’s a classic, too, and so it Heart of Darkness.
January 17th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
@raincoaster:
We’ve discovered, entirely by accident, that our eight-month old Spud just loves to hear the “Double, double, boil and trouble” part of Macbeth. “Fillet of a fenny snake” is apparently particularly hysterical.
January 17th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
Well that IS the fun part. Your child has excellent taste.
Seen the Hamlet by Cat’s Head Theatre?