Pentimento: Tear-Water Tea

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Tear-Water Tea

This may be the most perfect work of literature in the whole history of humanity (I've only recently discovered it).

9 comments:

Sally Thomas said...: Oh, my gosh. My children loved that story. We love Arnold Lobel in general, but we *really* loved that owl.; November 26, 2012 at 12:54 PM
Pentimento said...: There is something so beautiful about the idea of making your sadness material, and then allowing it to alchemize (I know, not a real word) into something nourishing and good.; November 26, 2012 at 12:56 PM
Sally Thomas said...: That kind of narrative insight is precisely why I love Arnold Lobel -- the Frog and Toad stories aren't magical in the same way that Tear-Water Tea is, but they are so wise, and so funny. It's hard to say quite why a sentence like, "Frog and Toad ate many cookies, one after another," is brilliant prose, but it is (and it's what we always say when there are cookies around here).; November 26, 2012 at 5:25 PM
Pentimento said...: Oh, Sally, I totally agree. It is.; November 26, 2012 at 6:11 PM
Melanie Bettinelli said...: I've never seen that book before and now I want to own a copy.

We do love Frog and Toad. I just finished a book (Rules by Cynthia Lord) with an autistic character who uses phrases from Frog and Toad to communicate when he can't supply his own words. I loved that use of the stories.; November 26, 2012 at 10:50 PM
Pentimento said...: That's what's known as "context-appropriate delayed echolalia." :)

Was it a good book, Melanie?; November 27, 2012 at 6:54 AM
Melanie Bettinelli said...: I knew there was a name for it.

I did enjoy the book. The focus of the plot is on the older sister coming to terms with various relationships, typical middle grade novel. I liked that her relationship with her brother was not really much different than any big sister who sometimes gets annoyed and embarrassed by her younger sibling. Sure, his autism is a factor; but most of it is just plain middle school awkwardness. And though she sometimes resents being asked to babysit she also acts as her brother's protector and helps him with her lists of rules which really aren't only for her own benefit but are an attempt to help him navigate in a world that often doesn't make sense to him.

Likewise with Jason, the friend she makes at her brother's occupational therapy appointments. His being in a wheelchair and communicating via pictures in a book are factors which embarrass her at times but also allow her to show empathy and that bring them together as she makes him cards for his book to express the thoughts and emotions his mother and therapist don't think of.

The characters are engaging and the plot struck a nice balance between dealing with disabilities but not allowing them to become the overriding personality trait of the characters.

And like I said, I loved the use of Frog and Toad. The mother is constantly chastising her, telling her to make her brother use the words he means; but she sees it as their own private language. And I think she's right, it's not really a behavior that is so outside the norm, just as Sally's family always says the line about the cookies, we all do it to some extent.; November 27, 2012 at 10:39 AM
Pentimento said...: It sounds worth reading, especially considering my similar family circumstances. I'm going to look for it in well-stocked YA section of my library.; November 27, 2012 at 11:12 AM
Melanie Bettinelli said...: Yeah, I thought you might appreciate it. Should be pretty easy to find.; November 27, 2012 at 12:11 PM