Collections

Today, I read The Puddle Pail to two children, who we will call F.S., who is a girl and W.J., who is a boy; not the top two who I would put together, but I could roll with it. This book is about two brothers who decide to collect things. One brother collects things like rocks and bottle caps; the other brother collects puddles. As I read, I could tell that they were not super into it, but F.S. paid attention fairly well and answered my questions. After I read the book, I had them draw what they would collect if they could collect anything. F.S. chose to collect flowers, while W.J. decided to collect robots. After they drew these out, they went to another activity. But it got me thinking. 

If I could collect anything, what would it be? I’m not sure if I would most want to collect tangible items, like postcards or snow globes, or items that but can’t be seen, such as memories or knowledge. I asked some of my friends, and they believed I was looking too much into a children’s book; I retorted that children’s book are where you can learn some of the best lessons (thanks for reading all those books to us, RJ). I believe that the lesson I learned is that some of the most valuable things that are collected aren’t physical objects. For example, in the book the second brother collects the puddles because of their reflections and how they look different. He might never see that puddle in the same light again, but he captured it in his pail, so he could keep it. 

I believe that the entire book is a metaphor for memories, with the pail being a brain. At the end of the book, while he is sleeping, a dog shows up and drinks most of the water. He doesn’t get upset, but actually uses the rest of the water from the puddles to paint the pictures he had originally seen in the puddles. I believe that the dog represents sleep, because we do lose our memories and tend to forget things. But then he comes out and, with the rest of the puddles, makes something beautiful. 

Maybe I am reading too much into it. But maybe, just maybe, others aren’t reading enough.