This beloved mouse has always bothered me.
There's something about Leo Lionni's beloved children's book, Frederick, that has always bothered me. Frederick is the classic story of a mouse who is a dreamer and a poet. A mouse who is different from all the rest of the field mice. He's a writer, a rhymer, a color gatherer. Frederick is a philosopher mouse and he's held up as an example of individuality.
Parents and teachers love him. Frederick won the Caldecott Medal and it's consistently voted into the top 100 books for children. Entire curricula are drawn up to teach the messages in Frederick.
Sure, we need to make room for unique individuals and honor poets, artists and storytellers. As a young writer myself, I partly identified as Frederick. I knew what it was like to feel different from the other mice, to view the world differently, sometimes to observe.
Frederick sits and dreams while the other field mice work. Some would say that's Frederick's "work." Perhaps, but dreamers still need to participate in life.
As a child I wanted Frederick to get up and help. Couldn't he carry some corn, maybe a little more slowly, but still gather winter food while he was dreaming? Why was he so helpless and dependent? Why was he so callous? Did he deserve all the glory?
What bothers me the most about Frederick is that he never offers his gifts. He never tries to help. Even when all the mice are starving together, it's not Frederick who offers to warm everyone with his stories and colors and poems, the other mice have to ask.
It's OK for poets and other artists to wash the dishes. Dreamers may be different, but no matter what our individual talents we all need to participate in life and help out as part of a family or community.
Children do need stories about kids who are different, books that celebrate unique natures, but when it comes to understanding individuality, I prefer stories like Ferdinand the Bull or Doris Burn's Andrew Henry's Meadow. Sure, the parents' gender roles are a bit dated on this classic, but the emphasis is on finding room for individuality. Andrew Henry shows children have widely different talents and interests and these may be vastly different from their friends or parents.
Sure thing, dreamers can share their talents.
What are your favorite stories for teaching individuality? What is our place as writers? How do we help dreamers (maybe including ourselves) participate in the community around us?
Great reflection! I feel similarly about The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein in relation to resource use. A tree gets used by a single human until it is nothing but a stump, never offering readers the opportunity to see what the young boy who keeps taking and taking is giving back. It teaches martyrdom and unhealthy realtions with nature and with people we love. It irks me to no end. I use it in my trainings while reflecting on how we teach young people about resource use through literature.
One book about appreciating self is STAND TALL MOLLY LOU MELON by Patty Lovell. I also really like I LIKE MYSELF by Karen Beautmont.
I know what you mean about The Giving Tree. I was always bothered by it as a child, and read it over and over trying to "get" it. I think it's all about how NOT to give, and how relationships need to be two-ways.
Thanks for writing and for sharing the two titles!