On a Magical Do-Nothing Day (2017)
by Beatrice Alemagna
When a boy and his mother arrive at a home in the woods, all the child wants to do is play a handheld video game. When he finds himself having to sneak outside in the rain, the game meets a sudden end when it falls in icy cold water. The boy is upset, until a group of snails catches his eye. His magical encounter with nature follows.
This story and nature adventure is so simple, and yet so refreshingly alive and wonderful. There is a spread during the child’s outdoor exploration that always reminds me to take a deep breath and almost brings tears to my eyes to feel that deep connection with the world around us.
I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about this book when I saw the video game obsession in the first few pages, but it absolutely delights. Simple, heartening, short, and beautiful.
…Of course, it wasn’t until the 9th read or so that my 2-year old told me this was a “sad” book. I thought perhaps he meant “happy sad,” which he calls it when he sees me cry happy tears at something. But I realized he is very sad that the boy loses his game. Not that he was relating it to video games, but he was just upset that the boy lost something special of his in the water and couldn’t get it back. As an anti-technology type, I had been kind of silently cheering at this wake-up call for the kid, but my toddler brought up a good point. I mean, as an adult, how upset would one of us be to drop a “precious” phone into a pool of water? His comment helped me see and feel the child’s perspective better, and just what a huge shift the boy undertook in his ability to find the goodness in what was really a very tough moment of letting go.