Granddad’s Pink Trousers is not for everyone. Lucie Hasova Truhelkova made a story that, when you learn the “punch line” you feel bad about judging the grandfather during the rest of the book, but at the same time, I felt the grandfather was judging and the rest of us were really douches for not being like him.
I mean, the story is about the man who is strange by most people’s standards. He is upset when his wife tosses out a yogurt that is a few days past sell by date. Or you cannot drain the tub until he takes two buckets of water out to use to flush the toilet. People feel he is grumpy, and many other “strange things’” like wearing his wife’s pink pants she is tossing out. But when he learns that he has a new grandson, he cries. And does everything he can to make him strong. And when one day when the child asks why his grandfather is the way he is, the response is one that makes sense, but is a bit “I am better than you” feeling. (SPOILER) the grandfather says he does these things as he does not want a child the age of the grandson having to make more clothes like the pants, and he knows people do not have clean water, so do not waste it, or much food, so do not toss it out.
This environmental message is great, but just felt a bit pushy and frankly, a little demeaning. And with Andrea Tachezy’s illustrations in the mix, things feel even more gloomy and “watching you.” However, they are interesting in an artistic sense. I appreciate the work that goes into them, they are images that made me wonder if they were less “dreamy” and more solid would that have helped lighten the tone? Or if there were other colors? Or…. Several questions.
Overall, I do not feel this book is really for children, but there might be one that can appreciate it (as always, know your reader). And I do not see this book as an easy gift to give to someone, but maybe to an adult who is into environmentalism. I would like to know if this is a translation story, as that might explain some of the bumps I was having with it (if you’ve read other reviews of mine that are from translated text, you know my inner reading ear does not always copy tone/context as well as others).
