Visions of Childhood

Remember that old show Recess? You better. It was awesome. You have the six characters, from TJ to Gus, Vince to Mikey, Spinelli to Gretchen, all representing a little slice of childhood as we remember it from the good old days. Vince, you may remember, was the sporty kid who was good at everything he did, and he had a little bit of a competitive spirit as well. Mikey was the kid who just wanted to get along with everyone, but with a dark side and a hidden talent to balance him out. Gretchen was the overachieving honor roll student who always had the answer to get out of a jam. Spinelli was Mikey's opposite, a rough-and-tumble tomboy who was always looking for a fight, but she did have a soft side to go with the tough girl front. Gus was the awkward new kid with just getting to know everyone. His father had been an officer in the army, and it showed in the way that Gus acted around his friends. And finally, there was TJ, the man with the plan, the little hellraiser who always had a new way to make mischief. Each of these six characters almost literally defined every aspect of childhood imaginable when combined, and there were even more supplementary characters to fill in any gaps left by this group of characters.

The short stories themselves, I think, might give a more accurate picture of childhood (in my opinion) if they were more relatable to my life. In such stories as The Sutton Pie Safe and Every Little Hurricane, I have no idea what it's like to live on a reservation or a farm in the country, so I couldn't possibly understand what the childhood of a person who did was like. However, these stories more often than not relate stories that aren't typical of most children. Most kids can't say that they live on farms out in the middle of nowhere or in HUD housing on an Indian reservation, so these stories don't really seem to properly demonstrate childhood. The authors may have gotten the feeling and experience right of children who live in such conditions, but as far as describing a typical childhood, they seem to be a little bit off the mark.