The Doorbell Rang

by Belén Giamberardini

Every day teachers and parents  have to choose among a great range of  stories for kids to read. Some people prefer stories with  a didactic purpose, some others try to find stories that make emphasis on values. Some people prefer choosing old stories, while some others prefer choosing new ones. But no matter the kind of story people are going to choose, it is certainly true that those stories will reflect throughout their pages the social characteristics of the society in which they have been immersed.

 Among the great variety of  children’s books one can choose is “ The Doorbell Rang” by Pat Hutchins. The story is set at a middle calss family house in which two children have to share the cookies prepared by thier mother  with a lot unexpected guests, all of them being children. In this book, that has been published in 1986,  it is possible to see a middle class family, the kind of house in which they live as well as some possessions they have. However, women seem to have a very traditional role for a book that has been published in 1986.
If you have a look at the illustrations you will see that the mother cleans the floor in almost all pages of the book.

However, it could be said that by 1986 the expected role of the woman was no longer the one of cleaning the house all day long. By that time women shared those kinds of responsibilities with their husbands.

It is also noticeable that the mother is dedicated to looking after her children and cooking meals.

By 1986 women were not expected to spend hours in the kitchen cooking or to look after the kids during the whole day. By that time her husbands, again, cooperated with them in carrying out those tasks.

All in all, when people are going to choose a story like “The Doorbell Rang” for their kids to read, it is significant that they take into account what aspects of society the book is reflecting. If they don’t care about those kinds of things children can get the wrong picture about what they are reading and, worse than that, they can misunderstand the role of their mothers.

The Simpsons

By M. Belen Giamberardini and Gisela Koval

Every day in Argentina lots of children watch TV after school or during weekends and one of the favourite TV shows chosen by them is The Simpsons. Children follow Homer and his family’s adventures in Springfield day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.

It is well known that The Simpsons satirizes the American life style. Incompetent authorities, irresponsible adults, little tolerance and acceptance to everything that is “different”, out- of- control children, both at home and at school, are examples of this. But this is not all. The Simpsons can also underestimate the image of what is culturally taken as good.

“¡Púdrete Flanders!”(“Screw Flanders!”) has been a well known phrase daily heard by Argentinean kids during the last fifteen years. It’s not difficult to see how Homer mistreats his neighbor and makes fun of his way of dressing, religious beliefs, values and healthy habits. All this gives as a result a distorted image of what is considered a good neighbor.

Matt Groening reflects the failures of the American educational system through the Elementary School of Springfield . Although it is known that some failures in the system may be real, the author exaggerates the figure of teachers and authorities making fun of them. In this way, an organization which should be respectable is pictured as a weak and useless institution where kids do whatever they want.

To avoid visiting Grandpa is one of The Simpsons favourite plans for the weekend. Old people are seen as a thorn in one’s eye and taking care of them is not a choice. To exemplify this, there is an episode in which Homer denies giving away one of his kindness to save his father’s life. There is another episode in which Bart makes fun of Lisa because she enjoys spending her free time visiting old people at the Retirement Home. Thus, it is underestimated something that is culturally considered as good as taking care of old people.

“Why don’t we do a family activity next Sunday?” is a phrase that we will never hear in the show because The Simpsons prefer doing activities separately. Homer prefers spending time at Moe’s drinking Duff rather that taking the family to the zoo, for example. Marge spends all day in the kitchen preparing meals to satisfy Homer’s hunger while Bart, Lisa and Maggie live adventures on their own. So that something good as a united family is again disparaged.

The Simpsons popularity is undeniable. It doesn’t matter whether you are six or sixteen years old, you will laugh watching them anyway. But its success is based on showing irresponsibility, intolerance and lack of family values as fashionable and cool, making culturally good habits look absurd.

Is The Simpsons the kind of show we want our children to watch? It’s better to be believed it is not.

Skellig

(review by Belén Giamberardini)

This is the story of Michael, a ten-year-old boy, who moves to a new house with his parents. Everything seems to be good but when his baby sister gets ill the whole family gets helpless. Then one day Michael enters the horrible garage of his new house and there he finds  something unexpected. Is the creature in the garage a man, a bird or an angel? Michael and Mina, his new friend, will learn about the power of love and their worlds will change forever. Highly recommended.

The Selfish Red Ant (by Belén Giamberardini and Gisela Koval)

It was almost midday when the big group of ants gathered at the anthill to revise all the work they had been doing up to that moment.

The Queen of the red ants started checking the amount of collected food. There was one grain, pieces of leaves, some grass, pieces of bread and cookies but she realized that the flowers were missing. The Queen got mad at the idea that some of the workers hadn`t done their job properly. “I want to see the ants in charge of the flowers immediately” the Queen said. But nobody answered or moved. “ I said I want to see the ants in charge of the flowers immediately!” she repeated. But again nobody answered. “They are missing!” One of the ants shouted. Everybody were horrified to hear what has happened, some of them burst into tears.

“What’s wrong with that?” said Little Red Ant. “it makes room for new people”. “What a selfish comment!” the Queen said angrily. Suddenly, one of the guards of the Queen entered the anthill and cried: “The ants in charge of the flowers were poisoned by the humans”. All the ants cried, even the Queen cried. Little Red Ant felt really sorry for her selfish comment and said: “I want to make up my mistake. I’ve been so selfish! From now on I’ll do my job as usual and I’ll also collect the flowers”. “Oh! That proves that your heart is still kind” the Queen said. And from that moment on Little Red Ant was in charge of the flowers.