Corgiville Fair

I hate this book with an inexplicable vehemence. I hid it for a year so I wouldn't have to read it to my son, who of course loves it.

I somehow managed to miss exposure to Tasha Tudor's books in my childhood, but discovered them/her while browsing Amazon one day. While out shopping at a discount bookstore today, I happened to come across Corgiville Fair, and snapped it up right away. I can see why so many people of all ages LOVE

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this book! Who doesn't love a good county/town fair?! It reminded me of the events of my own county fair in the small Alabama town where I grew up, but better! It took me at least 20 minutes to make it through the book, because I had to soak in all the details in the beautiful illustrations. I loved the imaginative town of Corgiville, inhabited by anthropomorphic corgis, cats, bunnies, and "boggarts," which I discovered upon a little internet research are mythological ogre-like creatures from England, though the author put her own creative spin on their appearance and behavior in the book. Like any typical American, trained to always be on the lookout for subliminal messages/hidden political agendas (that is typical, right?), I kept trying to figure out the meaning in the ways the different creatures interacted with each other, and their places in the hierarchy of the town. There are probably an infinite number of ways one could interpret the societal positions of the characters, but I soon abandoned my various theories and decided to enjoy the book with childlike wonder. I love that Tudor created an entire town based around her real Corgi dogs- even the names of the shops in the illustrations include the names of some of her pets. I hope this book, and others like it, continue to be read to and by children in the coming generations.

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