The English language is structured for creativity, not for precision engineering. Too many phrases are ambiguous. When I tell my wife “I can’t love you any more!”, am I noting that I used to love her, but am no longer capable of doing so? Or am I telling her that my love is turned up to 100%, that I am utterly and totally in love with her? I’m not telling. Not even her.
The actually cover has shiny stuff instead of white on the lace (which is a good effect) and the title (which makes it hard to read.)
The title to Who’s Your Valentine, Charlie Brown? is similar. Is it asking “Charlie Brown, who is your valentine?” Or is it “Is your valentine Charlie Brown?” Looking at the cover, if the question is the former, then it is aimed at Charlie Brown; if the latter, it’s aimed at Snoopy in which case that might not seem to be a reasonable question. But then one starts to think about what “valentine” means in this context. After all, in some contexts it means simply a Valentine’s Day card; when we speaking of school children giving each other “valentines”, we just mean the card. But those cards often say “be my valentine”, so clearly it’s a request for some personal relationship, and as it turns out, the question is a very good one, because (and I’m going to have to spoil the ending of this 10-page heart-shaped board book here) the climax of the story is that Snoopy gives Charlie Brown a Valentine’s Day card. Apparently, he is requesting that Charlie Brown become his valentine! So the ambiguity of the title is never settled; it is neither lady nor tiger but rests in the same state of uncertainty as Schroedinger’s cat.
This masterpiece of ambiguity is writ by Tina Gallo and illustrated by Vicki Scott.
For a video game review, I turn to the AAUGH Blog’s Video Game Specialist (and my dAAUGHter), Allison. Snoopy & The Great Mystery Club (released today on Steam, Switch, Playstation, and X-Box) is a video game in the literal sense of the term. Is it a good video game? I’d …
I somewhat slough off a lot of Peanuts books aimed at children. I can appreciate that the people making them are doing good work, but at the same time feel that a properly formatted book of the actual comic strips would actually serve the kid better. But then, I’m a …
When I reviewed the 2015 book adapting the TV special It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, I had this to say: The book that’s titled It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (adaptation by Kara McMahon, art by Scott Jeralds) takes basically the whole special and simplifies everything. It briefly tells you that Charlie …
