It’s been less than a week since I returned from India. In five days, I should have been accosted at least three times by a tiny person with huge dark eyes. He should have hit me with his tiny fists and insisted: “Tell one Thor story!” I am referring of course to my nephew, Dr. M. But I haven’t been accosted. Because Dr. M is 7000 miles away.
Out of frustration at not being able to see him, I’m going to do the thing he hates most in the world. I’m going to tell a story a second time. (One of his more charming attributes is that he insists he remembers all of the stories. All of the books. Everything. And of course his memory is shockingly good. But I still take perverse pleasure in dusting off a classic and getting half way through the book or story before he realizes he’s been bamboozled. Another of his charming attributes is how much he loves noodles.)
The Thor Story that is not a Thor Story
I also take amusement from the fact that the Thor story genre that I have created is so clearly not about Thor in any useful sense. Thor only serves as an introduction to the stories about Dr. M. But even more than that, there is no recognizable characteristic about the stories that pertains to Thor. Even setting aside the recent appearances in several Marvel movies, Thor was kind of a big deal. Imagine engaging in this kind of tomfoolery with Moses or Krishna. And yet I do it shamelessly. Because if Thor didn’t like people making up nonsense stories about him, he shouldn’t have made that deal with Disney. (Don’t you hate it when your gods sell out? Thor moonlighting in Marvel movies is like if Krishna had to make ends meet as a seedy lounge singer in Vegas. You hate to see it.)
Dr. M definitely complains about aspects of a story when you are reading to him. If he recognizes the story or recognizes elements of it, he starts yelling. I kept expecting him to yell about the fact that these stories are not about Thor at all. But he didn’t complain about that. I think it helps that they are about him. The idea of a storybook character talking about him (instead of the other way around) makes him laugh.
Spin a Good Yarn and Don’t Worry
It’s also a good lesson for writers: if you’re trying to decide whether or not to change something about a canonical character, the question you have to ask yourself is ultimately: will it make a difference? Most people are not looking for faithful representations of storybook characters. Those who are looking for faithful representations fall into two camps: the ones who are going to be disappointed pretty much no matter what. And the ones who are going to realize that you’re not going for historical accuracy in the first place and are willing to just let you tell your story.
There’s a lot we will let go if you tell a good story. That’s true for adults almost as much as it is for children. I’ve been rereading Pride and Prejudice every few years since I turned eighteen. I know that fundamentally it’s about people who are able to live the way they do because of stolen wealth from India and Africa. But it’s a really good story. And a really good illustration of characters not outgrowing so much as outsmarting the flaws in their respective characters in order to find happiness in love.
Thor Story
So one day there was a little boy named Thor. And Thor went to Daddy Odin and said: I want one Dr. M Story! Daddy Odin said: I already tell you so many Dr. M stories!
But Thor said: please one more!
(If I were telling this story directly to Dr. M, this part would last quite a bit longer. At least until I had decided what story I was going to tell.)
Daddy Odin said: How many Dr. M stories have I told you? All day you’re saying: “Please one more Dr. M story! Please one more Dr. M!”
“Ok this’ll be the last one.”
“Ok fine. One last Dr. M story.”
So one day Dr. M had read all of the books in his house and he said to his Amma: “Please, Amma, can we go to the library?”
Amma said: “Don’t we still have books at home?”
But Dr. M said: “I’ve already read all of the books at home.”
“Are you sure you didn’t just read some of them?”
“No, I read all of them!”
“How can you have read all of them?”
“Well first I read one book. Then I read another book. Then I read another book…” (I’ll spare your time but this section ideally would last about a minute and consist mainly of me saying “And then I read…” and Dr. M finishing the sentence by chiming in ANOTHER BOOK!!! Possibly while jumping on me.)
At the Library
Amma said: “Ok we can go to the library.” So they got in the car and Amma buckled Dr. M in so tightly. And they went to the library. When they got to the library, Dr. M went to the librarian and said: “I need more books.”
The librarian said: “Why do you need more books?”
“Because I read all of mine.”
“You read All of the books?”
“All of them!”
“Are you sure you didn’t read… some of the books?”
“No, I read all of them!”
The librarian said: “Ok, how many books would you like.”
Dr. M thought about it and said: “How many books can I take?”
The librarian said: “Well. I guess we don’t have a limit to how many you can borrow.”
“Ok. Then I want to check out all of the books.”
But all of the books wouldn’t fit into Dr. M’s car. So he had to bring his airplane.
“And I would have gotten away with it, too…”
The next day, Dr. M was sitting at home reading all of the books when some other kids came over to play. One kid (named Anjan) said: “Dr. M, did you take all of the books from the library?”
Dr. M answered: “No, I only took some of the books.”
Anjan yelled: “No, you took all of the books!”
“No, I only took some of the books!”
“Well we don’t want to be friends with you because you took all of the books!”
And before Dr. M could say another word, Anjan and all of the other kids left. Dr. M felt bad. Maybe he shouldn’t have taken all of the books. Maybe he should only have taken some of the books.
So Dr. M ran after the other children and said: “I’m sorry I took all of the books! There are so many books! Will you help me read them?”
So all of the children sat with Dr. M and read books together. And also ate noodles.
Thor sat on Daddy Odin’s knee and when the story was finished, he clapped and thanked his father for the pleasant entertainment. Just kidding. He started yelling: “Another Dr. M story!”
I guess there could be an explicit moral at the end of this story. It certainly leans towards one. But so many books, especially the ones for children… it feels like they only exist to set up a moral. I’m not sure that’s the right, um, lesson we want to be teaching children. That they can’t enjoy a story for its own sake.
