Minggu, 15 September 2019

A Cool Kid Like Me! by Hans Wilhelm





-Hello-

Alright, this time I will discuss something different from my previous article. Yup, this time I will try to uncover hidden things in the book A Cool Kid Like Me. Many hidden things can be discussed, but I will only focus on the bear, the child and colors that are in this book. Let's get started, shall we?

First, I’m going to spill some tea on you about the author, Hans Wilhelm. He is a German-American writer, children's book author and illustrator, and artist. Hans Wilhelm has written and/or illustrated over 200 books – mostly for children. They have been translated in more than thirty languages and have won numerous international awards and prizes. Many of them have been made into animated television series. Presently there are over forty two million books by Hans Wilhelm in print.

Then now, let’s talk about the interesting hidden things in A Cool Kid Like Me book. We will discuss the cover first. On the cover there is a picture of a small child hugging a brown teddy bear with an expression of fear while hiding under a blanket that is maroon. Then beside the blanket were three pairs of eyes enveloped in black smoke and looked at the child. Also, the background of the cover is in pink, and the title is in maroon. I guess these colors have hidden meanings in them. According to https://www.colorpsychology.org/pink/ , pink has many positive associations. It is a calming, non-threatening color. It is linked to innocence, hope and optimism. It also represents positive aspects of traditional femininity like nurture and kindness. Its negative sides are that it can seem weak, vulnerable and silly. It is also linked to shallowness and not seeing reality. If we take a look at the child’s expression, and his action to hide under the blanket, then we can conclude that the meaning of the pink color in this book is the negative one; weak, vulnerable, and silly. Then, according to the same source, maroon color is often used to represent intense and passionate things like; confidence, creative thoughts, excitement, power, risk, passion, love, ambition, courage, strength, warmth, and beauty, which is mean even if the child feels fear, he will still fight the fear. Then, the grey colour of the ghosts is illustrates a child's fear of ghosts, which is the fact that almost all children will be afraid of ghosts, especially if he is somewhere alone. So, I guess the grey in here doesn’t mean anything but just ghosts.


Then, on the second page of the book, we can see the a bear sitting alone and facing it back to the readers.  Why it should be a bear? Actually, a bear doll at this story have a hidden meaning. But first, I’m going to tell you readers the history of a bear doll. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teddy_bear , teddy bear is a soft toy in the form of a bear. Developed apparently simultaneously by toymakers Morris Michtom in the U.S. and Richard Steiff in Germany in the early years of the 20th century, and named after President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, the teddy bear became an iconic children's toy, celebrated in story, song, and film. In this story, the teddy bear was given by his Grandmother, which is mean teddy bears could remind us of the specific person who loved us and brought us a teddy bear. Teddy bears remind us on the joy of being loved. Teddy bears are certainly not a sex symbol.they’re a enjoy symbol. They remind us that a person loves us and treasures us. In my opinion, it doesn't matter if giving a teddy bear to a boy, because basically kids will also choose toys that are smaller than their body, as well as toys that can give you a sense of comfort.


       In this story, overall, the child can be categorized as having two personalities. Why? Because when he is outside the house and with his friends, he is very happy. However, when at home, he felt alone despite living together with his parents. Because his parents don't pay attention to him, even for the slightest little things, it's a good thing when the grandmother gives a teddy bear to the child, because only the bear is the one who best understands the feelings of the child. The child tells all his fears to the bear, including fear of not having friends, fear of being abused by other children who do not like it, and the feeling of fear when witnessing the fight between his parents. All the fear, and other things that he told the bear that his grandmother gave, could make him feel way much better.




Thus the interesting things contained in the book A Cool Kid Like Me by Hans Wilhelm. Of course, there are lessons we can take from this book. First, be parents who care about children, fulfill the birth and inner rights of children, give more attention to children. Second, give the child knowledge that the outside world is not as scary as he thinks, because not everyone is a bad person. Third, put your family on top of everything else, because the most valuable asset is the family.

-Thank You-




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