Don't try this at home, please!

Amy reviewed I Ain't Gonna Paint No More in her last podcast. It's a favorite at our house, too. Sung to the the tune It Ain't Gonna Rain No More, it's the tale of a young artist who just can't resist painting his own body. That got me thinking of other tales of creativity and art gone amuck that perhaps even the most creative and enthusiastic moms would rather not deal with at home.....

An oldie but goodie is Robert Munsch's 1992 offering, Purple, Green, and Yellow, the story of how Brigid didn't ruin her life despite coloring herself with "super-indelible-never
-come-off-till-you're-dead-and-maybe-even-later colouring markers."
It has all the hallmarks of good Munsch storytelling: repetition; rollicking, rhythmic prose; fantastic circumstances within an contemporary setting, and an irrepressible protagonist.

A newer selection is Billy Tartle in Say Cheese by Michael Townsend. This one I was afraid to read to my boys. I read it anyway, but I was scared. (I should have been afraid to read Purple, Green, and Yellow but I was cocky. "I am so gonna try that," quipped my oldest when we read the Munsch classic at bedtime tonight.) Young Billy Tartle is off for a pre-school picture haircut. Knowing that he doesn't want another snoozer of a class picture, Billy decides that his new hair style should resemble that of Supermonkey, his cartoon hero. This would be, of course, a pink mohawk. Mom and barber conspire and Billy gets a normal haircut. Sigh. What's a highly imaginative and highly energetic boy to do? How will Billy keep the class picture from sliding into Super-Boringness? What will his teacher think? I don't want to spoil the ending for anyone; let's just say the gooey, juicy, sticky fun pops helped to make it Billy's Best Picture Day Ever! Oh, and have a beautiful day, because you are.