Resurrecting Calvin

A few weeks ago, I arrived to pick up my son from an afterschool playdate and found him absorbed in a star wars comic book. It wasn't a flimsy, magazine-like comic book, but rather a paperback sized, fairly thick comic book highlighting stories of the star wars series.

He was so engrossed that I asked the mom where she'd found the books...the library.

I LOVE THE LIBRARY.

I don't know what it is, but my kids - who aren't always perfect little angels - somehow transform into erudite, good-natured kids as soon as they enter the library walls. I am amazed by how enthralled they are by all the books and I feel as if somehow, I've contributed to this and it always makes me want to give myself a nice pat on the back.

Anyways, I decided to find a few more comic books at the library - a nice departure from the novels he's been reading for a while - and couldn't find them. So I went to the resource desk and asked the librarian...

"Um, I'm looking for these star wars comic books that look like paperback books?

"You mean "Graphic Novels?"

"Oh. Yeah. Graphic Novels. Sure."

I love it when a new distinction is thrust upon you that way - making you feel unpolished and yet enlightened all at the same time. Like instead of red wine you now understand there's pinot noirs and cabs. Like instead of beer there's ales and pilsners and stouts. Like instead of lettuce there's arugala, romaine and endive.

So she showed me to the graphic novels section. WOW. Who knew? It's a whole genre that I didn't even know about...and the interesting thing is that there are tons of them and some of these books are THICK and ELABORATE and most are intended for a teenage/young adult audience! CRAZY!

The nice thing was that there were graphic novels that were more age appropriate for my 6 and 8 year old and it's been fun to explore these. It's a great departure from your run-of-the-mill picture books or kids fiction. We've also learned about interesting characters like Houdini and I've caught a glimpse of how my munchkins see the world and what they pay attention to in the elaborate pictures found in these novels. A picture can reveal a lot if you pay attention.

And then, as you think you've entered into new territory you realize your life has come full circle, or your adult life that is.

After a few visits to the graphic novels shelf, my son discovered Calvin and Hobbs. And loves it. Just like his dad - who when I first met him, was a C&H fiend. In fact it was one of the things I found so endearing about him. Endearing because among this academically intense graduate school setting with all kinds of higher math that I couldn't even begin to understand, there were Calvin and Hobbs books everywhere. This juxtaposition between calculus equations and calvin and hobbs humor was one of the things that made me fall in love with him.

So, now for the past few weeks, Calvin and Hobbs is in our lives almost every night as we read silly strips and get a good laugh, and I see my husband in my little boy and I just shake my head and think how life repeats itself, in many ways.