I’m continuing my exploration of the Nutshell Library, of books illustrated by Maurice Sendak that aren’t Where the Wild Things Are, and, more generally, of pocket-sized picture books from the 1950s and 1960s. In this case, that means Sendak’s 1962 Pierre:a cautionary tale IN FIVE CHAPTERS AND A PROLOGUE.
Some of the other books have told only limited stories. For example, One Was Johnny technically tells a story, but it is a story built around counting as a series of intruders disrupt Johnny’s private time…and then leave, counting down from 10 to 1.
By contrast, Pierre has a definite story, even one with complexity. The prologue establishes the premise: a boy named Pierre only says, “I don’t care!” no matter what his parents say to him. They express their love, offer food, invite him to go to town with them, and so on, No matter what they say (in their brief, rhyming statements), Pierre says, “I don’t care!“
Frustrated, his parents leave him home alone. While he’s by himself, a lion shows up and threatens him. Pierre says “I don’t care!” And…the lion eats him.
The lion takes Pierre’s place in his bed. When his parents get home, they find the lion sick in bed. They threaten and attack him. They interrogate him. when the lion says “I don’t care!” they realize he’s swallowed Pierre, and rush him (them?) to a doctor. The doctor shakes the lion, and Pierre tumbles out.
Pierre is so happy to escaped death that he is changed: he cares now. Everyone’s happy, and the lion gives Pierre a ride home–and stays as a “weekend guest.”
Pierre has an explicit, if basic, moral: “CARE!” However, this being a Sendak book, the contrary and subversive elements are more powerful. Pierre’s refusal to care gives him a lot of power for a kid, and even keeps him from fear when the lion “asked him/if he’d like to die.” I suspect that–and the sudden appearance of a charming, if dangerous, lion.
(Oh, once again, there’s a Carole King song version of this book.)