Question Authority

How do you instruct kids in the art of not following inane instruction? The Very Silly Mayor, a new children’s book from political cartoonist Tom Tomorrow (in real life my friend Dan Perkins), encourages the questioning of authority in the fine tradition of The Emperor’s New Clothes and Yertle the Turtle. Sparky the penguin and Blinky the dog, trusty stalwarts of Dan’s comic, This Modern World, live “in a medium-sized house in a medium-sized city” in which the mayor decrees that police officers must wear clown costumes, firefighters must put out fires with peanut butter, and home owners must paint their houses with green and purple stripes. Sparky does not approve. Undeterred by fawning TV announcers and newspaper headlines, he speaks truth to power. Sparky is an amenable, roll-up-your-sleeves rebel—he agrees to work for the mayor, in exchange for dialing back the harebrained schemes. When I asked my sons what they thought the story was about, they said, on cue, “how political people can be really, really wrong.” Indeed. With kid-friendly, eye-catching pictures.

Fear Factor: (The mayor is silly, not scary.)
Heart: (Sparky is upright and admirably impervious to peer pressure.)
Attitude: (Blinky manages to come up with a nice thing to say about the mayor’s schemes: “Green and purple are very bright colors!”)
Psst: Check out Dan’s new album cover for Pearl Jam’s latest CD Backspacer.
If you like this: Pair it with Yertle the Turtle for an evening of well-earned rebellion.