Cedric Book 3 – What Got Into Him?
Cedric Book 3 – What Got Into Him?, By Cauvin & Laudec, Cinebook
IN THESE grim, economically-challenged, ecologically-blighted modern times where those wielding power are now boring me rigid by wantonly posturing their corruption in front of me on a daily basis, it’s good to get back to the real things in life that matter.
Kids, for one thing.
You love them to bits, though they hardly ever grow up the way you thought they would. Still it’s watching those changes, and occasionally getting aggravated by them, that makes it all worthwhile; for every little smile raised keeps us from worrying about what our global wide power-mad elite are up to.
Whoops. I’m off on one again!
Look, sometimes you don’t have to persecute people, take all their money in taxes and buy yourself a swimming pool out of it, or execute someone just because they prefer to suck lemons on a Wednesday while the latest fashion in your culture is to do so on a weekend: sometimes you just want to get the girl of your dreams, meet up with your friends and have a laugh and a joke, then sit down and watch the world go by and think to yourself, “Yes, there are still some things in life that are good.”
So what’s got into Cedric this time round?
He’s still got the biggest crush a little lad could have on a girl and his friends don’t have to worry about him because it. Mind you, his innocent act when he plays up is something I’m beginning to wonder about. How much of it is unpremeditated and how much is his way of testing his parents has to be a subject that’s going to arise in some future volume.
Not least because while it’s skirted round the edges, his parents’ petty arguments bookend this collection, and misunderstandings between them pepper stories throughout. It’s because they’re such finely observed stereotypes, and we see a little of ourselves in them, that we worry so much about their future. Let’s hope our eavesdropping on their little rows isn’t a sign of reality entering this fictional family.
Fortunately, as long as Grandpa’s alive there’s a reason for them to argue with someone other than themselves. That said, old man and son-in-law don’t bicker with each other so much this time round, and Gramps mentions his late wife more than once: at the outset of this book he strolls down memory lane byways to tell Cedric a moral tale about caring for each other that, as intended, causes the kid’s parents to see the error of the error of their ways and make-up.
And that’s another reason to wonder if Cedric is trying the innocent act on – he’s learning from the best, a grandfather who can manipulate you with sentimentality, and cuss you until you’re well and truly worn out.
There are tales of late night discos, skateboarding races and majorette competitions, a lot of panels of poor mom busy doing the ironing but looking good enough to give the US comic strip character Blondie a run for her money when she’s all dressed up. Granddad gets up out of his armchair once in a while, and when we walk round town, though drawn in a bigfoot cartoon style there’s no denying that it is a European one, and my heart pines little; wanting to get on a plane and be there.
Cedric makes me smile. It puts all that’s good in one little 48 page book, tells you that there really is nothing wrong iwith a sit-com situation if it’s done right, and by golly Laudec and Cauvin do it so very right.
Sponsored by Target Media.
