I wish I was a little bit taller

One of the fun things about having kids is reading books with them. We've had a number of successes including Winnie the Pooh and Babe. We have also have a surprising failure in Stuart Little. Our oldest thought it was OK, but we just thought it was wierd. Stuart is a bit of supercillious ass. Hardly the sort of thing on which kids should model their own behavior. And the story has no real ending, he bolts from the house to find the missing bird, doesn't find her and stays on the road.

Ok, I can hear the complaints already. Why does the story have to end? This isn't some pomo English class discussion group, this is a kids's book. It has to have an understandable narrative arc. And many will be aghast that I think the hero has to be admirable, at least in some way. When it comes to kid's books, I am aligned with William Bennett and Marlo Thomas (to pick two people far, far apart on the ideological scale.) They both advocate for some amount of didacticism in children's lit, and I agree. Kids need acculturation in societal norms and values somewhere and with the decline of religion and school's abdication in these areas, parents have to step up. I'm not advocating that ALL lit has to do this, but there should be a decent helping. And any negative behavior has to be balanced with context.

So, Stuart Little is not the type I want my kids to follow. Perhaps it is all a metaphor for the challenges of being short, but I am still not too keen.