My brother, Sean, sends me hilarious family updates via e-mail. The photos are great — he’s a professional photographer – and the dialog, recorded by both Sean and his wife, Kirstin, is better than most Off-Loop theater. (The thoughts of their tiny geniuses, Wilhelmina and Oscar, make me think of the Royal Tenenbaums minus the dysfunction.) Anyway, Wilhelmina, at seven years old, has already discovered a secret of the book-reviewing trade:
Wilhelmina, carrying a new favorite book: Mom, I have a new way to tell if I’m going to like a book. Know what it is?
Kirstin: No; what’s your method?
Wilhelmina: Just look at the cover. Works every time.
That’s why so many books are shipped to us in plain paper jackets.
And two more, not because they have anything to do with book reviewing, but because I’m a proud uncle:
In the car, again. From the backseat:
Wilhelmina: Lily likes George W. Bush, and she says she knows his website. And she said she’s going to email him and tell him what I’ve been saying about him.
Kirstin: (!!!?)
Wilhelmina: Well, too bad, right? Because this is a free country, and I can say whatever I want! And I can think whatever I want!
Kirstin: Right! Did you say that to Lily??
Wilhelmina: No. Lily also said if I don’t shut up about George W. Bush, she’s going to tell Mrs. Pizarro (her first grade teacher)….
O: I want a band-aid (so I give him one and get into the shower).
O: I want a bloody area. I want a bloody area (which I couldn’t understand so well being in the shower..)
S: You want me to cut you?
O: I want a cut.
Geez, dad, how else am I going to be able to wear a band-aid?
