Taking Care of Carruthers

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Fun -- Whatever It All Means
Review: The transcendentally goofy charm of James Marshall is the only thing that holds this "novel" together, but that's plenty. At the raw end of winter, Emily the pig and Eugene the turtle are trying to cheer up their sick and grumpy friend Carruthers the bear. Finally Eugene succeeds with a story about the three of them taking an imaginary summer boat ride down the river. The encounters Eugene describes are funny and vivid. Although his tale doesn't add up to a real story, Carruthers and Emily don't appear to mind. My kids (7 and 3) didn't mind, either; the three of us loved the book. Still, I couldn't help thinking it was all an elaborate inside joke. The incidental characters are drawn with remarkable sharpness, and their behavior has a kind of real-life untidiness. They sound like caricatures of people we don't know -- but would recognize on sight. In one chapter we meet two mole sisters who have somehow gotten stranded on a rock in the middle of the river, and the three friends help them to shore. "'We never found out how they got to be on that rock in the first place,' said Emily, when they were once again on their way." (page 53) If you figure it out, please let me know.