Genre: Humorous Fiction
This book will not disappoint, especially if you love his sardonic sense of humor. I have read almost all his books, but this one in particular gave me ideas that I could implement into my teaching. I found the fables not only amusing but also insightful each time I read them. Sedaris describes his book as a “bestiary,” but I would call it “fables for young teenagers and the adult mind.” The lessons are priceless, and it is not condescending and does not insult the reader’s intelligence. In fact, it allowed me to create lessons on themes or central ideas without undermining my ENL students’ background knowledge, but actually to push it forward.
My favorite “adult fable” is The Crow and the Lamb (page 75), which will open the reader’s eyes to the dangers of indoctrination and proselytism. My second favorite is The Mouse and the Snake (page 41), what a great lesson on ignoring good advice and your own voice of reasoning! Each “fable” comes with a wonderful illustration by Ian Falconer as a topic appetizer of the wonderful story you are about to read.
If you want to have a good chuckle and enjoy the clever sarcasms we can find in polemic issues of all generations, you must read this book. You can probably finish it in one rainy afternoon when you are feeling sad and need something uplifting, but not condescending. I even made my mother read The Motherless Bear (page 29) to help her get over five-year grief after the loss of my grandmother; my mother kept using the loss as an excuse for failing to do what she knew she had to do. A great lesson on moving forward even when we do not want to do it, or see it as impossible.
Mark M. is a Colombian teacher with certifications in TESOL, Spanish, French, Literacy, and Special Education. He currently teaches ENL classes at the high school level. Mark loves movies, especially the horror, Sci-Fi, and foreign film genres. He also loves books based on dysfunctional families and comedy as a means to deal with the pain of growing up; hence, my favorite author is David Sedaris. Mark loves music as much as he loves film and he listens to all genres.