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Mercy Watson Fights Crime by Kate diCamillo Analysis
“Mercy Watson Fights Crime” is book number three in the Mercy Watson series by Kate diCamillo, first published 2006. This series is beautifully illustrated by Chris Van Dusen. SETTING OF MERCY WATSON FIGHTS CRIME Where in America is this series set? Based only on fictional representations, this feels Southern to me. (Do Americans get that? […]
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Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus! by Mo Willems Analysis
A comparison between Mo Willems’ Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive the Bus! and another from the same series, The Pigeon Wants A Puppy, highlights certain shared comedy writing techniques found in both. TECHNIQUES OF NOTE Directly addressing the young reader A main character who eventually tries to trick the reader A big struggle scene featuring […]
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The Pigeon Wants A Puppy by Mo Willems Analysis
The Pigeon Wants A Puppy by Mo Willems is one of my kid’s favourite books. The Pigeon books are similar to the Elephant and Piggie books in graphic design and in humour. STORY STRUCTURE OF THE PIGEON WANTS A PUPPY SHORTCOMING When I read this quote from the author/illustrator I knew that Willems thinks of […]
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When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead Novel Study
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead is ten years old now, published 2009. I’ve seen this middle grade novel described as magical realism, though for knotty political reasons we might prefer to call it fabulism. It is also science fiction and grounded in the real world. It packs a lot into 40k words. There […]
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Deep Holes by Alice Munro Short Story Analysis
“Deep Holes” is a short story by Alice Munro. You can find it in the June 30 2008 edition of The New Yorker. I’m very much reminded of Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer and the real life of Christopher McCandless. But “Deep Holes” is not the story of the son — it’s the story […]
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Free Radicals by Alice Munro Short Story Analysis
My reading of “Free Radicals” by Alice Munro (2008) is highly metaphorical. To me, this is a story about the Kubler-Ross stages of grief, and the new vulnerability older women feel when their male partner dies before them. Read literally, though, and this is the story of one woman’s brush with a serial murdering intruder […]
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Fiction by Alice Munro, Nuanced Infidelity Short Story Analysis
“Fiction” is a short story by Alice Munro (2009). From the title itself we might expect it to be metafictional. Sure enough, there are constant reminders to consider the role of fiction in our lives. I will tell you everything, and if I don’t tell you it means I don’t trust you or I have […]
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Passion by Alice Munro Short Story Analysis
“Passion” is a short story by Alice Munro, published 2004 in The New Yorker. This story has much in common with “What Is Remembered“. An elderly woman looks back to when she was young, in a vulnerable psychological state. In both, the younger woman gets into a car with a ravishing bad-boy doctor, contrasting against […]
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What Is Remembered by Alice Munro Short Story Analysis
“What Is Remembered” by Alice Munro appears in the print edition of the February 19, 2001, issue of The New Yorker. It was also published in the collection Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage. Looking back as an old lady, this short story focuses on several days across one young woman’s life in which she hooks up […]
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The Wrestler Film Analysis: Appearance vs. Reality
The Wrestler (2008) directed by Darren Aronofsky remains one of the best, and also one of the saddest, films I’ve seen. Australia’s Margaret and David both gave the film five out of five stars. Logline: A faded professional wrestler must retire, but finds his quest for a new life outside the ring a dispiriting struggle. […]
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Dump Junk by Annie Proulx Short Story Analysis
“Dump Junk” is a short story by Annie Proulx, included in the Bad Dirt collection (2004). This is a revisioned fairytale based on The Magic Porridge Pot and similar. Proulx’s shorts stories in many ways allude to, cite, and subvert a number of myths, legends, fairy tales, and folktales converging as common cultural patrimony. Annie […]
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The Wamsutter Wolf by Annie Proulx Short Story Analysis
“The Wamsutter Wolf” by Annie Proulx is a short story included in the Bad Dirt collection (2004). The title of the collection comes from this story. SETTING OF “THE WAMSUTTER WOLF” This particular setting can be geolocated. Wamsutter is a town in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 451 at the 2010 census. Wikipedia As of this […]
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What Kind Of Furniture Would Jesus Pick by Annie Proulx Short Story Analysis
“What Kind of Furniture Would Jesus Pick?” (2003) by Annie Proulx is the story of Gilbert Wolfscale, whose rabid devotion to his ranch drives off his wife and sons. You can read this one online. SETTING OF “WHAT KIND OF FURNITURE WOULD JESUS PICK?” This story reminds me of Larry McMurtry’s Hud, probably because it’s […]
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The Contest by Annie Proulx Short Story Analysis
“The Contest” by Annie Proulx is a short story from the Bad Dirt collection, published 2004. Like Larry McMurtry, Proulx writes two main types of stories — comical stories similar to those found in dime novels (in McMurtry’s case) and in hunting and fishing magazines (in Proulx’s case). “The Contest” belongs to the comical class, […]
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Man Crawling Out Of Trees by Annie Proulx Short Story Analysis
“Man Crawling Out Of Trees” is a short story by Annie Proulx, included in her Bad Dirt collection (2004). Many of the stories in this collection are in the tall story, brutal, regional, humorous tradition, and readers who don’t share Proulx’s sense of humour haven’t connected to these stories as well as they connected to earlier ones.