Friday, October 26, 2012

Scribbling by Jonathan Gould


The author’s words:
“It’s like this. I think if one person tries to change the shape of the world too much by themselves, that’s when you get problems. But if we each try to change just a little bit of the world, then maybe together we can all make a big difference. Here, come with me.”

This paragraph above was the one that caught this reader’s eye, it sums up what this humorous and delightful author was trying to scribble in his story, that sometimes we as individuals become restless and act on impulse and do something, say something or create a severe action that causes consequences that could be disastrous.  In embarrassment, or fear, one hides the mistake and tries to fix it but it becomes more out of control. As the world is out of shape, so is the moral fabric of people’s lives and beliefs. They become disoriented and create a different reality to adjust to the change someone else decided to make to be happy; not taking the others existence around them into consideration and how they would be affected by the adjustments. 

Neville, the catalyst of all the trouble, travels around his newly created flat world and meets this entire group of delightfully strange odd people who were once ordinary, until he pulled the world out of shape and now everything is upside down.  And he has only an hour to get it back into its original shape. Yet by calculator lady an hour has different definitions and the shouting man is reflecting and blaming others for the problems.

The author wrote an insightful story with colourful characters, No Name Girl, the jumping kangaroos, the super heroes with their imaginary superpowers, the fisherman who is this reader’s favourite character and others such as the numbers lady and the main character Neville who created the mess in the first place.  Plotting insightful, mathematical quotations and lessons about respect and not to be afraid to declare when one creates a problem, they should ask for assistance and apply the principles of working together as a team. 

To accept diversity and uniqueness of everyone, even if it is frustrating at times, and correct the issues before any more consequences occur and they cannot be repaired.

The author’s books Scribbling, Doodling  and his other books have a very creative imaginative writing style and as a reader and mother I highly recommend his stories for all ages. One benefit is there are definitely many good chuckles in them. The addition benefit,  many valuable lessons for all to ponder upon while being delightfully entertained by his collection of stories.. After reading it, I believe it could be a good tool to open communication channels between parents and children to discuss the moral lessons etched into the pages of this short and hilarious story. This reader could not stop laughing, until the end, it is a remarkable story.



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