My kids love Robert Munsch books. He is one of Canada's most widely known storytellers and authors of children's literature.
My children love the repetitive flow of his writing. I love that there is usually a good message or lesson in them. I also enjoy the illustrations of all the books.
While he has partnered with different artists, Michael Martchenko’s illustrations are my favourite. There is always something funny or interesting on each page. We often discover different things partially hidden in the pages when we reread the stories.
I thought we had all the books. Our book shelf is mostly made up of his books. If there was an award for the most Munsch books, I think we would win.
We have all the classics such as Love you Forever, 50 Below Zero, and Mortimer. We have all the newer ones such as Moose and Bear for Breakfast.
We read Give Me Back My Daddy three times last night, I have it memorized.
I really thought we either had them all or had read them all.
However, we went to the Telkwa Library recently and they had a few older books out to purchase by donation, so I quickly scanned them and noticed two Munsch books. Two that I had never seen before or even heard of.
Of course, I bought them. And I was actually giddy to bring them home and read them to my children. They looked old. It was like some sort of treasure I had unearthed.
Trust me, when you read the same books over and over again to your kids, you get really excited to read something new.
I recently learned that some of his books have been challenged. Which intrigues me, and somehow makes me appreciate his work even more.
To "challenge a book" means to formally dispute its inclusion in a library, school, or other institution based on objections to its content. This challenge can be an attempt to ban the book or restrict its access. I can’t fathom anyone trying to do this to any Munsch book, but here we are.
The Paperbag Princess is the story about the reversal of the princess/prince/dragon story. It was challenged for violence and for being anti-family, as the princess rejects the prince in the end.
The publisher even asked Robert Munsch to change the ending before publication, but he refused. And I am glad he did.
The princess has a choice in who she marries, or doesn’t marry. And this Prince was a dink. I’m glad Muncsh stuck to his guns.
Also, his book, Thomas’ Snowsuit was banned by school boards in Niagara, Ont. and Lloydminster, Alta./Sask. in 1988 for challenging the authority of a teacher and principal. That seems unbelievable to me but maybe the 1980s were just a different time.
The next Freedom to Read Week, I am going to read all of his challenged or banned books to my children. I will start compiling a list now.
Today, nearly 100 Munsch books have been published, so maybe we don’t have them all.
He has since retired, but will continue to publish two previously written books each year. My children and I are very excited about that.
