« Miscellany | Main | Failure to Thrive »
April 02, 2009
Not Always the Best Policy
The following is a school assignment turned in by Robbi's friend Whitney when she was but a small girl, presumably a report on a book called Last Day of Brightness. (My Google search returned no information regarding author or date of publication.)
I think this stands as an object lesson for parents regarding the importance of teaching children to either do their homework or be more artful in covering their tracks. There is something so appealing in Whitney's unguarded honesty. And if she truly did not read the book, are we to imagine that what details she does offer are purely fictional, based entirely on the implication of the title? If this is the case, should Whitney not be rewarded for her inventiveness, arguably a more important virtue than the ability to read and reiterate the basic plot elements of a children's book?
Let us not overlook Whitney's decision to begin a new paragraph for her admission of non-reading. And that she remembered to indent it. How wonderful that she paid heed to the fine points of how one is to behave when completing a book report while forgetting the part about reading the book itself.
And don't you wonder what the teacher wrote and then blotted out at the bottom? It probably wasn't "Hurrah, you have imagination. Never let it get away from you." But maybe it should have been.
Whitney is an artist (here is her site). And I think her origins as a creator of things is evident here. This book report is far superior to the one that would have better pleased her teacher.
Here is one of her many wonderful illustrations.
Posted by bogenamp at April 2, 2009 11:29 PM