The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson

These books were a seminal part of my childhood I've reread them so many times throughout childhood, the teen years, and adulthood that I'm not exaggerating when I say that if you start quoting one of the strips, I can almost guarantee that I'll be able to give you the punchline from memory. Trying to choose a favorite Calvin and Hobbes book really is not entirely unlike trying to choose a favorite child. We all need a little more imagination in our lives. I need to remember to brighten my view with one of these books from time to time. I got the feeling that he really gets it. Watterson also manages to paint a decent view of the female perspective, despite Calvin's view of girls as gross and slimy, and his mother as a dispenser of disgusting food, clean laundry, and torturous baths.

Calvin is at his worst when he's told to obey for reasons that make no sense to him, and so of course he's going to the principal's office daily. It's about teaching kids to sit down, shut up, and do their homework. Calvin's school isn't about nurturing creativity or teaching children to use their gifts. It makes sense now, and I even understand why I didn't see it, before. Most interesting is that I never understood how a bright kid like Calvin could do so poorly in school. I finally see the humor in Calvin's declaration that this is the coolest thing to happen to him. And the section about the break-in at their home, instead of inspiring boredom, seems very apt, and I can sympathize with the parents. Calvin's antics aren't laugh-out-loud funny anymore, but bittersweet now that I can imagine raising such a holy terror. I had one perspective on them when I was young, and another now that I'm all grown up, myself.

These are definitely written to be appreciated on several levels, which is what makes them so rereadable. I could read these a million times and still want to read them again. I read these when they were originally syndicated in my hometown newspaper, and I read Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink' and The Revenge of the Baby-Sat. I just happened to pick this book up while visiting a friend, and, the next thing I knew, it was hours later.

The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson