I have no words.

You know, I have this post half-written where I try to work through exactly why certain developments in BREAKING DAWN, the last TWILIGHT book, creep me out so much and seem so pointedly anti-abortion… but then I saw this and I sort of feel like all my analysis is irrelevant. As is my gag reflex control.

Just over a week ago I expressed my generation’s ’80s nostalgia in the best way possible by participating in/co-organizing my first abortion clinic defense (we won!). The excitement and inspiration of that event is something I will cling to as I desperately try to wash from my brain the full horror of the social forces unleashed by this book in the context of 30 years of backlash, all of it expressed in nicely concentrated form in this horrific crafts project.

Just… Ick.

p.s. When I said I hoped to find further application of the “Unorthodox uses of children’s books” category… I’m so sorry; I didn’t know.

UPDATE: link fixed.

Good god.

When I was looking up the authors of MR. POPPER’S PENGUINS for the Wednesday Words, I found… this money management site’s teaching guide to MR. POPPER’S PENGUINS.

Yes, I am serious. And I quote:

Remind students that Mr. Popper used credit wisely. He was able to use credit for goods and services even though he did not have enough money to pay for them at the time. He made an agreement with the engineer to pay him when he got the money. Then Mr. Popper fulfilled his agreement by paying the man as soon as he got the first paycheck for the Performing Penguins.

Challenge to the readers: can anyone think of a more pathetic pedagogic use of a completely awesome book?

Also: I had to make up a whole new category for this post, yet I am extremely hopeful about the opportunity to use it again. It seems replete with possibilities that are almost guaranteed to be interesting.