An Illuminating Tale

MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMP, written by Jack Lechner and illustrated by Bob Staake

Now we all know cutie pie, Mary, had a little lamb and yes, her fleece was white as snow and sure, little lamb followed Mary everywhere, which when Mary became a teenager and started dating, it became incredibly annoying to her.

Well, there’s another Mary and she had a little… LAMP “…the bendy gooseneck kind, and everywhere that Mary went, she dragged the lamp behind.” And so we follow Mary and her lamp at school, on the playground, all over the place.

You can only imagine how worried Mary’s parents were about this inanimate pet situation. “We told her she could have a dog. She wanted this instead!” And so they finally took little Mary to the doctor, who gave his professional opinion. “I’ve never seen so puzzling a condition. But lamps are not my specialty. You need an electrician.”

But good news eventually came. Mary grew out of her lamp phase, which was a great relief to her family. But not so fast, Mom and Dad, because “…Now Mary doesn’t take the lamp out sledding on her coaster. She’s much too big for stuff like that. Now Mary has a toaster!”

I love and kids will love the absurdity of this wonderfully illustrated picture book. But I’m afraid I have to go now… and take my electric toothbrush out for a walk!

The very versatile Lindy Michaels aims to inspire young minds through children’s literature. Lindy owned L.A.’s first children’s bookshop, OF BOOKS AND SUCH (1972-1987) where she did storytelling, taught drama to children, had art and poetry contests and the like. According to Lindy, “It was truly a ‘land of enchantment.” She also spent years lecturing on realism in children’s literature at colleges in the state. For close to five years Lindy has worked in Studio City for Barnes and Noble (BookStar) in the children’s section and does storytelling every Saturday at 10:30 a.m.