Gratuitous Domestic Posting (TM) - Bedtime Reading Division

There once was a boy named Eustace Clarence Scrubb and he almost deserved it.

Easily one of the greatest opening sentences in Western Lit.

The Nine Year Old and I have started The Voyage of the Dawn Treader again. (My personal favorite of Narnian Chronicles, btw.) We had a try at it about a year ago but never made it past the Lone Islands, why I can't quite recall. However, in recent months the gel has shown a positive enthusiasm for Narnia and we're now actually reading the series backwards. She abhored Shift the Ape in The Last Battle and is still trying to wrap her mind around the Platonic "farther in and farther up" message at the end. She howled with laughter at my rendition of Puddleglum in a Down East accent in The Silver Chair (Steve-O's favorite) and now here we are being introduced to Eustace in all his original awfulness.

For dramatic purposes, I've modelled Scrubb's early dialogue on that of Veruca Salt in the old Willy Wonka movie, and I must say that it plays very well. This is a piece of inspired psychology on my part because I often chastize the Llama-ettes not to act like a pack of Verucas. Every now and again Scrubb will say something that has been said before at Orgle Manor and when he does, I make sure and cock an eye at the gel. I know the message hits home with her because she involuntarily looks at me at the same time and usually drives an elbow into my ribs when she catches me looking back.

While the gel likes the voice I'm using for Eustace, she's also asked several times when it's going to change. I tell her that I think his voice will change once he changes and learns to stop being such a stinker. I reckon the whole business with the dragon skin is going to be a real eye-opener for her and am already marshalling my mental notes for explaining the metaphor.