There's nothing more pleasing than spend an afternoon at the girlfriend's and have coffee, and I get to see her little girl. I haven't see her for the longest time and she's grown up so much. In Primary One now, and she's been introduced to a whole new world. She has adapted well to the new routine.
She hasn't forgotten me (yay) and offered sticks of chocolate to go with my coffee. Then as the other girlfriends chatted, she pulled me into her room to show me the latest books she's crazy over. Stacks and stacks of them.
In one short afternoon, I was introduced to the entire world and psyche of Geronimo Stilton, the mouse who owns a publishing house and is the editor of 'The Rodent's Gazette'. He's got three main sidekicks who appear in all the books- his gung-ho sister and correspondent at the Gazette, Thea Stilton, cousin and owner of junk store, Trap Stilton, and a favorite nephew in the form of a nine-year-old mouse, Benjamin Stilton.
There're 63 books in this series, and counting. Think it started in 2004. There're other special editions too. The publisher spun off Thea Stilton with her own series in 2009. Nicely illustrated, the books held special fonts on its pages too, on certain action words or emphasis. Cool. Don't mind the uneven fonts. It's the quirky spelling of words that disturbs me. Eeeks. I managed to quaff six books in the time we had. The little girl's reading speed is almost as fast as mine. I'm impressed.
Read Book 10 'All Because of A Cup of Coffee' and rolled my eyes so far back. The books are generally kinda funny and deals with adventures. All good. But in 'All Because of A Cup of Coffee', it's all about Geronimo Stilton falling in love at first sight with Countess Stephanie von Sugarfur without even knowing who she is. Then Geronimo proceeds to be totally debilitated by the feelings of 'love' till he couldn't work or think straight. He predictably went to the shops to get his intended roses and candy/chocolate. YUCKS.
Maybe I was just tired. Or maybe I was just tired of the countess. Now that I'd helped discover the Eighth Wonder of the World, she didn't seem so special anymore. Oh, well, I guess that's love for you. One minute you're in it. The next minute, you're not.
There's even a visit to a 'Madame Love Doctor' who told him to "play it cool".The story proceeded to be an adventure on 'how to fall out of love' and 'how get your life together'. Geronimo is then dragged out of his lovesick fun by his sister Thea, and they all went on an adventure to find the Valley of Cheeselettes. Distracted and whatever, Geronimo falls out of love with Stephanie, and even when she came back to look for him, he's all like...no no no. DOHH. This is a series for 6-12 year-olds. Loopholes in plots are understandable. But silly plots like this one are just...gross.
Wah lau. I wanted to tell the little girl, read other books of how girls could also profess admiration for boys, and also how boys need not express 'love' via gifts of flowers and candy. And importantly, the world doesn't stop revolving just because you fall in love. It should empower you, not hinder your development. ARRRRRGH. The little girl is seven. I wasn't about to ask her what she thought of the book. Of course I took the easy way out and went to complain about this book to the mother. Hahahahaha.
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