Wednesday, May 11, 2011

The Elephant and the... Post-War Nation-Building Project?

Do you know the Black Books episode where Bernard and Manny decide to write a children's book? The finished product, The Elephant and the Balloon, is awesome.


I had a similar sort of an experience in my dream last night, although clearly my subconscious had decided I had to keep thinking about nostalgia even as I sleep. So the children's book produced in my dream was called Elefantti ei pääsekään enää Viipuriin (The Elephant Can't Go to Vyborg Anymore). It was supposed to help Finnish children come to terms with the war reparations and challenges to national identity, now that the city of Vyborg had been ceded to the Soviet Union. 

My great children's classic, only sixty years late! So, here are a couple of titles to address more recent issues that might be troubling the kids of today:

He Didn't Say Sorry to Me: Wally the Wombat finds his life oddly unchanged despite Kevin Rudd's historic apology to the Stolen Generation, and tries to get his head around Australia's colonial legacy.

All Together Now: Six little children decide to pool together their pocket money to buy a fine kite from Mr Monnet's toy shop. Alas, they all receive their pocket money in different national currencies! Can the children think of a way to resolve their dilemma before the shop closes? 

All together Now II: Why do Siobhan, Pedro and Christos look so sad?

Go on, I bet you can do better...


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