{"id":711,"date":"2014-04-10T02:21:43","date_gmt":"2014-04-10T02:21:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inside-of-a-dog.net\/?p=711"},"modified":"2014-09-04T00:50:15","modified_gmt":"2014-09-04T00:50:15","slug":"the-tale-of-meshka-the-kvetch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inside-of-a-dog.net\/?p=711","title":{"rendered":"The Tale of Meshka the Kvetch"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_1669\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Tonight I thought I’d give the boys a treat by reading\u00a0How I Became\u00a0 a Pirate.<\/em> (I don’t like romanticizing pirates, so we don’t have many pirate-related books. Which may make reading about them more exciting, rather than less. Huh.) \u00a0 But the boys took one look at it and moaned, in unison:\u00a0 “We have that at school!”<\/p>\n

So, I picked out Meshka<\/em>.\u00a0 And they were thrilled.\u00a0 Go figure.<\/p>\n

Meshka is a practiced complainer (a kvetch).\u00a0 Her back doesn’t simply ache, it feels as if she has “carried the Wall of Jericho itself.”\u00a0 Her studious son “sit[s] around the house like a bump on a kosher pickle.”\u00a0 And so on and so forth.\u00a0 But, one day, everything she complains about literally comes to pass.\u00a0 What is a kvetch to do?<\/p>\n

The message here (praise the good in your life rather than bemoan the bad) isn’t subtle, but it is a good one and easily carried along by the humorous plot and lively illustrations.<\/p>\n

Author:\u00a0 Carol Chapman
\nIllustrator:\u00a0 Arnold Lobel
\n