WFFF

Post #2 (6/20/26), I took some writing classes, and I’ve been writing for years but haven’t gotten the results that I wanted. Recently, I read this book “Fables” by Arnold Lobel, the author who also wrote the beloved “Frog and Toad” series, and something popped up in my head “Maybe I need to lower my expectation. Maybe writing a 3-page story is not where I am at. Maybe writing a 1-page story with a simple problem and a simple solution is where I should start.” I’m going to (1) find something interesting in this book, (2) analyze why it’s interesting to me, (3) analyze the writing technique, and (4) come up with something different using that same technique.

The Bad Kangaroo

(1) Something captivating/funny: small kangaroo has behavior problems at school. The principal visits his home to talk to his parents and finds out that his parents also behave inappropriately.

(2) Why it’s captivating to me: Surprise! I like surprises, and the surprise makes sense and kind of obvious but I didn’t expect it because I expect adult to behave appropriately.

(3) The technique is: readers have an assumption that all adults are well-behaved and don’t do pranks on others and when that proves to be false, it’s a surprise and it’s funny and it also makes sense.

(4) My own story: what other assumptions that we have for adults, specifically parents that are not true? We assume adults:

-don’t cuss in front of kids

-don’t talk about sexual stuff in front of kids

-mom cooks for kids at home

-parents reminds kids to brush teeth, take showers, go to sleep (not the other way around)

-parents read to kids before bed

-parents gives kids allowances

*** Plot: a mom is illiterate, can’t read or do math. Kid reads to mom before bed, and teaches her math.

A teacher is doing a home visit because a student is struggling mightily at school (3rd grader but reading at 1st grade level). When he gets there, he meets with mom and shows her the student’s progress report including reading and math scores. Mom then asks kid to help her read (help her sound out the words, blend, and she’s unable to read sight words).

To make it funny, mom doesn’t feel ashamed of her illiteracy. She works to make money and put food on the table and expect kids to help with other things. She tells teacher that the kid reads to her before bed, her favorite books, fraction in recipes is impossibly hard for her to understand. She considers it fair to split responsibilities equally with kids.