Friday, July 8, 2011

Rebecca's (Other) Favorite Book...






One book I remember reading a lot as a kid was Stuart Little, by E. B. White (1945). It was given to me as a gift from my grandparents. I still have the book, sans the original book jacket, on my bookshelf and re-read it from time-to-time.

It features the adventures of Stuart Little, the very tiny son of Mr. and Mrs. Little, who, according to the book, "resembles" a mouse (the implications of which, is quite disturbing now that I am an adult, but I didn't think twice about it as a child…) Although, Stuart is depicted as a mouse in all the illustrations. The book regales his adventures and trials of being small and living in a giant (human) world. Along the way he makes friends and enemies (one cat in particular) and even drives around his world in a tiny car looking for his friend, Margalo, a tiny bird.

I adored that little human-mouse. What's cool about him is that he's a mature mouse throughout a majority of the story - not a child, as would be expected in any other children's story. I loved imagining the tiny world Stuart lived in - how he'd use every day human items, like matchboxes and thread spools, to create furniture. Actually, now that I think about it, Stuart Little is probably largely responsible for my fascination with disproportionately small or large things. (…and Alice in Wonderland).

I also remember the illustrations in the book by Garth Williams. They were detailed black line drawings generously peppered throughout the pages. I remember spending a long time looking at every detail of those drawings every time I read the story.