This has nothing to do with Africa, but my mom sent me a link to this illustrated story in the Times—it’s kind of like a picture book for adults, and it’s about kids; how cleverly clever–and I have to share. The illustrator, Christoph Niemann, writes about riding the subway with his two young kids, Arthur and Gustav. I have a cousin, about to turn 6, who is a Metro system savant, and this made me laugh out loud:
“People often ask me for directions in the subway. Even though I know my way around rather well, I still have to defer to Arthur very often. Yet it seems people don’t trust the advice of a preschooler. They should.”
(I can vouch for this; Jason could’ve given directions to anyone, but they just wouldn’t listen.)
Also, I loved this one:
“A chaperone on one of Arthur’s school trips told me something he overheard when all the kids were neatly lined up in rows of two. The girl holding Arthur’s hand asked him, “Have you heard of Peter Pan?” “No,” he replied, “have you heard of Metro North?” ”
But you have to go here, and check out the illustrations.
this is so excellent! a far cry from what i knew as a kid in central mass., but the same sense of exuberance…and for the record, i’ve met jason, and i would trust pretty much anything that came out of his mouth.