När Trevald krympte (1971)

A satire of the relationships between lonely little children and self-cnetered adults? Compare to [b:Imogene's Antlers|339040|Imogene's Antlers|David Small|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347351898s/339040.jpg|2694257].... ( )

Brilliant, and funny for grown-ups too. It was an important book to me as a child and I have to wonder just how much it's unconsciously affected me. I'm a civil servant and the problems Treehorn faces are very much like mine. If you point out a problem you get a set of responses very much like Treehorn gets, and eventually, if you want something done, you have to do it yourself (though in real life sometimes they try to stop you). It grinds you down. I am literally fourteen inches shorter than when I started 9 years ago. I've reached the stage now where if everything turned green I wouldn't bother mentioning it. ( )

This is a short children's book I remember reading as a child, recently read aloud to my son. My son liked it because of the simple but fantastical plot--Treehorn suddenly begins shrinking, but figures out himself the culprit is a game he ordered from a cereal box but didn't finish playing. He also likes the unexplained cliffhanger--why did Treehorn turn green? I love it because of Edward Gorey's wonderful drawings--particularly the clothes--and because of the clueless grown-ups populating the story. The over-enthusiastic principal has to be my favorite: "That's what I'm here for. To guide. Not to punish, but to guide. To guide all the members of my team. To solve all their problems." If Treehorn wants to solve his problems, he'll have to do it himself, because no one around him has a clue. Still a super-cute book, after all these years.

Gorey's art adds savage bathos to this Kafkaesque tale of juvenile insignificance. ( )

As in all the best children's books, a story about the ineffectiveness and unreliability of adults. ( )