By Jon Agee
(Dial Books for Young Readers, 2018)
Sometimes I read a picture book and I’m not sure what it’s really about. I mean, I can figure out what’s happening on the page and take it at face value but, the events are so odd, that there must be a deeper, bigger meaning.
The good thing is this kind of picture book is way more fun than a similarly elusive meaning in a poem. Even better, when I was a teacher, I could ask a whole group of students if there might be a bigger message that the author/illustrator is trying to convey. We could build on each other’s thoughts. We could find a meaning that sounds profound and just right to us, regardless of the creator’s intent.
Oh, how I wish I had a group to join me in a discussion of Jon Agee’s picture book, The Wall in the Middle of the Book.
At surface level, the book is literally about what is stated in the title. In the middle of each two-page spread is a brick wall. On the left, we’re told by a young knight, all is safe. It’s where the knight hangs out. On the other side, it’s unsafe. Agee has drawn a tiger, a rhino and a gorilla. (And, as we see on the next page, a mouse.) The wall keeps unsafe things at bay.
It gets worse, as tends to happen in stories. “[T]he most dangerous thing on the other side of the book is the ogre.” Egad! An ogre! Ogres are known to eat people, particularly a nugget-sized young knight. Where was the warning sticker on the front cover? (An evil child must have peeled it off my library copy.)
The safe side, as it turns out, isn’t so safe. At the same time a mouse shows up on the right side, a duck appears on the left. No, ducks are not exactly fearsome. But then comes water. The water rises just as the young knight climbs a ladder with a fallen brick that he’s putting back in its place to keep the wall strong, to ensure absolute safety.
The knight is oblivious to the fact that, under the ever-rising water, there is a crocodile and some rather fierce fish with big appetites. Just as the wall is repaired, the water rises above the ladder and the knight is adrift in this moat, flooded river or emerging sea. (Let the audience come to some sort of consensus. Or not. Differences of opinion are welcome. Speculation will be needed if we’re going to find a Bigger Meaning anyway.)
SPOILER ALERT: Ending revealed hereafter.
The ogre manages to climb higher on his side of the wall. He reaches a hand over and scoops up the knight. A rescue!
Or is it?
The young knight says to the astounded antagonist, “[Y]ou’re the ogre who’s going to eat me up!”
The ogre finds this hysterical and assures the knight, “[T]his side of the book is fantastic.” As this happens, we see more dangerous things occurring on the left side which is supposed to be safe. (Dangerous if you’re a fish, to be sure.)
The young knight, the ogre, the tiger, the rhino, the gorilla, the mouse—and the duck—appear to live happily ever after on the right side of the wall.
Whew!
Young readers will sleep soundly. (Unless they’re particularly fond of fish.)
So what’s the bigger meaning? My guess is it has to do with the unknown, of prejudice even, of misjudging people and things. It also has to do with facing fears (including the fear of mice), knowing there is always an element of fear and risk in most everything we do, no matter how or where we’re positioned.
And perhaps it’s a reminder to not leave the hose running or at least be wary when a duck appears out of nowhere…
