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Busytown: If you build it...

Posted at 4:03PM on 23 Jul 08. Permalink.

There’s a book we’re particularly fond of in our house: Andrew Henry’s Meadow, by Doris Burn. We love it not only for its charming illustrations and its unbeatable story, but also because it was the book that our older son first read out loud all by himself. He knew the words by heart because we’d read it to him oh, a couple of hundred times.

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It’s been out of print for decades, until recently reprinted in a 40th anniversary edition. We found our copy in an old bookshop and I pounced on it at once, drawn in by the sheer verve of the pen-and-ink illustrations and the promise of the title.

As the title suggests, it’s a pastoral utopia, but it’s more than that. Andrew Henry doesn’t just find his meadow, he transforms it into a refuge for children who are, like him, artistic, quirky enthusiasts – and most importantly, misunderstood.

The book begins with a pretty simple proposition: “Andrew Henry liked to build things.” He’s a mad genius; also, a middle child of five, who rather than bemoaning his neglected status, just gets on with things. He builds all sorts of things: a helicopter, suspended from the kitchen ceiling and powered with an eggbeater. An eagle’s cage, impractically plonked in the middle of the living room. A pulley system for his ungrateful little brothers. The book is worth it just for the Heath Robinson illustrations of Andrew Henry’s contraptions.

But his family regards him and his inventions as a nuisance, so one day he quietly packs up his building gear and leaves home. Only the dog notices.

The book has a hell of a middle act: Andrew Henry finds his meadow, and sets about building his dream house – a cosy little hut, with a landing pad for dragonflies. He’s happy. But who’s this coming through the trees? It’s Alice Burden, who loves birds, even though her farmer father disapproves – birds are a nuisance. Could Andrew Henry build her a house too? Could he what! The next page shows Alice in her treehouse, which has a balcony, birdbaths, feeding stations, and a stand for her binoculars.

And steadily, like a reverse Pied Piper, Andrew Henry attracts to his meadow all the children whose parents just don’t get them and their unusual hobbies. The kid who has pet moles and mice and rabbits. The noisy musician. The boat fan who overflows the bathtub, and who dreams of a house built over a stream. Slowly the field accumulates impeccably purpose-built houses, and becomes a village of happy children.

Meanwhile, the parents are frantic. Where are the kids? A faithful dog provides a clue, and there is a touching reunion scene, where the children are as happy to be found as the parents are to find them. After all, four nights is a long time.

The book has a happy ending of sorts. We don’t see what happens to the meadow and its buildings – I guess we can assume it’s left in place, now that the parents know where it is – but Andrew Henry is granted full run of the basement to do his building in, and his family is “always curious to see what Andrew Henry would build next.”

It’s helpful to know that the book was inspired by the author’s son and his clever inventions. When the book was written, the family – with four children - was living on an isolated island in Washington State, without electricity, running water, shops, phones. You can imagine the opportunities, indeed the requirement, for kid-generated fun.

When I heard that the book had been optioned for a movie, I was thrilled. There’s a great big hole in the market for realistic and (I hate this word but it's true) wholesome movies for kids. Zach Braff (of Scrubs and Garden State fame) and his brother, who had loved the book as kids, were writing the script. What’s not to like?

And then I stumbled across a blog by the guy who was most recently hired to direct it. It’s fascinating. He seems to get the story -- right up to this bit:

“Eventually the kids must return to the town to save everyone from the monstrous company who controls it. The ending has a real action-packed climax.”

Uh, what? No no no. I understand the need for a third act climax, but this is just wrong. It’s not just that there’s no monstrous villainous company in the book. And it’s not that bringing down a monstrous villainous company isn't a fine premise for a movie (go, Wall*E!).

Rather, it’s that the enemy of childhood imagination is usually much much closer to home, and comes in a much more sinister guise: self-regarding grown-ups with a serious empathy deficit.

Witness the story of Wifflegate, happening just down the road from me in Greenwich, Connecticut. A bunch of teenagers livened up their summer by industriously transforming a neglected, weed-strewn lot into their own wiffleball field of dreams (honestly, this story just writes itself: has Hollywood optioned it yet?). They cleared poison ivy, laid out a diamond, and constructed their own version of Fenway Park’s “green monster” wall out of scrap wood.

(NB wiffleball is like baseball, but played with a light plastic ball that doesn’t break windows).

You’d think that Greenwich – a tony, wealthy, very white town, with a dinky little downtown precinct right out of "My Three Sons" (if you’ve seen The Ice Storm or The Stepford Wives, you’ve seen Greenwich) – would have been blushingly proud of these kids. Why, our boys don’t stay inside and play Grand Theft Auto, or roam the streets terrorizing old ladies and tagging fences. They’re far too busy recreating heart-warming vignettes of the good old days.

Unfortunately, these Andrew Henrys and their reclaimed meadow encountered grouchy, entitled neighbours, who pressured the city into intervening. Last Friday, sledgehammers smashed their wiffleball stadium to smithereens.

As of last report, the kids are fighting back, in a gentle, insistent way, but the city won’t budge and the neighbours are putting up surveillance cameras. Oh, the irony! There’s nothing to see but kids having fun! On a piece of land that has been used for games, on and off, since the Second World War veterans returned to town.

The Andrew Henry film project is currently languishing in “development hell,” according to the latest director – it’s been shopped around a lot, and has yet to find a way to the screen. So I wonder if there’s a chance to revisit the script, in the light of Wifflegate? So easy to update the story in a compelling way without wheeling in some enormous extraneous corporate bad guy: just populate the town with adult busybodies and lawsuit-shy city councilors who don’t “get” kids. Only have them realize at the last minute that they’re just jealous, and that it’s never too late to have a happy childhood.

Meanwhile, the boy in our house who would be Andrew Henry is happily engaged in a week-long summer camp at this fantastic place down the road, named for the tireless local inventor and innovator, Eli Whitney. It’s run by a gentle pirate and staffed by a phalanx of eager teenagers who have worked their way up through the ranks, starting out at five with wooden train sets and bird houses, and graduating to supervising complex electronic kits and massive constructions.

It’s paradise for a kid who likes to tinker, like our nearly seven year old. A month ago, he spent a week there constructing a wooden skyscraper with a working elevator, an underground train track, a blinking light on top to warn passing planes, and (his own embellishment) a bungy jumper attached by a rubber band to the rooftop terrace. This week, it’s all about the Netherlands: he's hard at work on a watertight table-top diorama featuring dykes, boats, and a windmill with - he proudly informs me - an Archimedes' screw.

Years ago, my Japanese host father, a talented surgeon who spent his weekends on woodworking, would talk about the "brain of the head" versus the "brain of the hands." He was adamant that you simply couldn’t think properly unless you also got busy with your hands and built things. I think he’s right. I think the scriptwriters for the film version of Andrew Henry’s Meadow need to spend a weekend on Doris Burn’s island fetching water and chopping wood, and then a week or two at the Eli Whitney Museum watching kids wield hammers -- and then go back to the drawing board.

And I think the good citizens of Greenwich need to get a grip. On a wiffleball bat. And realize what they’re missing.

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Kyle Matthews
From: Dunedin
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 4281

Posted at 12:14PM on 24 Jul 08. Permalink.

Note the aside in the NY Times article about the sledding doctor who sued the city over a broken ankle -- what a dick!

You really wish a judge/jury would just say "You broke your leg during an accident, doing something in which accidents sometimes happen. You'll get medical costs, and that's it. Stop being an arsehole and trying to set yourself up for life because you had an accident."

Matthew Poole
From: The pit from whence crawled Rodney Hide
Since: Mar 2007
Posts: 1481

Posted at 2:30PM on 24 Jul 08. Permalink.

For those who think that doctor was being an asshat, check out OverLawyered for some examples of true legal insanity. A couple of events from our shores are in there, but it's heavily dominated by the US - and, amusingly enough, West Island. Seems that our 'roo-loving cousins like the 'merkin legal system, as well as 'merkin "diplomacy".

Anyone who dares suggest that we should do away with ACC should be pointed to OL forthwith. That kind of nonsense is a direct consequence of allowing, nay encouraging, people to sue in the event that they're injured. Take away the no-fault provisions, and watch the lawyers go mad. It's bad enough with the forecast privatisation of the workers' account if National win the coming election (it wasn't pretty last time they tried it, either), but a wholesale shift to "personal responsibility" *cough* encourages people to take as little responsibility for their actions as they can possibly sell to a jury.

Aidan
From: Canberra, Australia
Since: Feb 2007
Posts: 27

Posted at 2:41PM on 24 Jul 08. Permalink.

Thanks for the heads up. I had to use Amazon as I couldn't find a local distributor (for the same price). When I called the local bookshop they looked it up, umm'ed and aahhh'ed and then said "Have you tried Amazon?" !!!!

I did try to do the right thing.

My own busy fella sounds very similar to yours. By crikey he'd love that local museum holiday program. At the moment we are totally in thrall to Scrapheap Challenge. We have a PVR/hard drive set-top box thingo and the A(Oz)BC is showing old and new Scrapheap Challenge 6 days a week. We have a backlog of 20 or so shows to watch. WOO HOO!

Looking forward to a rerun of Golf Ball Gatling Gun, but the Hovercraft Episode takes the cake for no-way-did-they-make-a-hovercraft-out-of-scrap mind blowingness.

Steve Barnes
From: The City of Fails.
Since: Dec 2006
Posts: 1834

Posted at 3:19PM on 24 Jul 08. Permalink.

OverLawyered

I get a 403 on that one (Forbidden
You don't have permission to access / on this server.) ?

Matthew Poole
From: The pit from whence crawled Rodney Hide
Since: Mar 2007
Posts: 1481

Posted at 5:40PM on 24 Jul 08. Permalink.

I get a 403 on that one

Bizarre. Works fine for me. Try just typing overlawyered.com into your address box.

Steve Barnes
From: The City of Fails.
Since: Dec 2006
Posts: 1834

Posted at 5:59PM on 24 Jul 08. Permalink.

Tried that and disabled my hosts file just in case. Seems odd, what browser are you using? I've tried Opera and IE6.

Steve Barnes
From: The City of Fails.
Since: Dec 2006
Posts: 1834

Posted at 6:21PM on 24 Jul 08. Permalink.

Weird. Network solutions whois shows the domain for sale but a thumbnail of the front page.
Domain Tools whois shows;
thumbnail of the front page and
IP Address: 63.247.141.23
IP Location - Florida - Jacksonville - Dns Services
Response Code:
Blacklist Status: Clear
Domain Status: Registered And Active Website
I'm going to get to the bottom of this.

Kerry Weston
From: Manawatu
Since: Jan 2008
Posts: 494

Posted at 9:00PM on 24 Jul 08. Permalink.

the "brain of the head" versus the "brain of the hands."

Yep, I'm right with that man. It bothers me that we are losing manual skills, building things by hand, and the appreciation of materials like wood, clay, stone, bone. It's the time one has to put in to using handtools well, and a few power tools (not a complete Luddite) and discovering the character of materials, before you even get to make something good that is being lost. Simply through not enough time to be economic. There is a real mindless, sensual joy in making something yourself, whether it is a piece of furniture, a carving, a painting, a piece of jewellery. Once you have the skills down, your hands know what to do and your imagination/subconscious can propel them anywhere you want to go.
Sigh. i was born in the wrong age.

Islander
From: Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi Pounemu
Since: Feb 2007
Posts: 1653

Posted at 9:30PM on 24 Jul 08. Permalink.

One of the things I think all poets - and more especially all fiction writers- should do is, build a house, plant a garden, or remake bush.
I've done that, twice over, and look forward to doing it a 3rd, maybe last, time...

you see, you can charm and engage with words, quite easily if you're that way inclined. But they dont ring -solid/right/sing- unless they have something substantial behind them.

The other substantials are: pain, grief, and children:they are almost always hands on too.

It is that, hands and head, that makes for a wholeness. I am right-handed, so my right hand is my hammer hand: it is fully a centimetre & a half wider/broader, more muscular & developed than my left hand.

I find though, that fishing is my manual joy- and like all the manual joys I know, it certainly isnt senseless (sorry Kerry Weston) but a mind fully engaged with what the hands are doing so neither predominates-

Kerry Weston
From: Manawatu
Since: Jan 2008
Posts: 494

Posted at 11:46PM on 24 Jul 08. Permalink.

Ah, but I said "mindless" as in conscious, controlling part of brain diverted somewhat. Don't get much opportunity now, but used to be a painter & sometime sculptor and always did my best work when the nit-picky, controlling bit was diverted into singing or something....maybe it's a painterly/messy artist thing.
I agree about your 'substantials'. Suspect it might work a bit differently with writing as opposed to visual arts. Words tie you down a bit more or something - had a crack at fiction & poetry as part of my degree, thought it would be interesting to compare creative processes. Found it quite disturbing to draw on my own substantials in writing, whereas i don't with painting, maybe it gets transformed more, or functions as a powerful undertow. Painting is a kind of fishing - never know what will turn up in the net.

steven crawford
From: Plimmerton
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 1975

Posted at 8:26AM on 25 Jul 08. Permalink.

I agree about your 'substantials'. Suspect it might work a bit differently with writing as opposed to visual arts.

Being dyslexic, along with the environmental variables of... and also of my 1970s primary education, I was typecast, 'good with his hands'. might be good for manual labor. I do know how to hold a paint brush, as they're designed to be held, as like the conductor...

Now that I've become a compensated dyslexic, thanks to computers; the brains behind the robots (your monitor, my printer) I've found the fact that I read written words as shapes; completes the loop. Now I'm good for designing font. And because I was good at manual labor, I understand shop culture. I can get my font cutting robots built at mates rates.

What I do to mitigate all that self esteem over compensation is, is to sometimes make things out of clay, along side people 30 years my senior. Making a mild twit of myself here also helps.

Matthew Poole
From: The pit from whence crawled Rodney Hide
Since: Mar 2007
Posts: 1481

Posted at 1:45PM on 25 Jul 08. Permalink.

Tried that and disabled my hosts file just in case. Seems odd, what browser are you using? I've tried Opera and IE6.

Very bizarre. Firefox from Mac and FreeBSD, and I stooped to using Safari and it works there too. But, if I try it from a box other than at home or work, and people in other cities trying it for me, 403's appear.
Something funky with DNS, methinks, coz I get the same IP address from boxes on which it works.

Kerry Weston
From: Manawatu
Since: Jan 2008
Posts: 494

Posted at 6:16AM on 26 Jul 08. Permalink.

Steven, it would be fascinating to experience words & the creative process through your eyes/brain. I believe Jeff Thompson, of corrugated iron animals fame, is dyslexic also.

I play around with monoprints quite a bit, inking up sheets of glass and printing off them - it helps to nut out ideas and composition - and the prints (being reverse images) are usually better compositions, in weight & balance than my original drawings. Discovered the same thing with photographs once, when the developers printed the wrong side of the negatives. It reminds me to keep putting that step in the process.

Checked out yr work - I particularly like the time & film machines and that's a stunning glaze on those fish bowls.

steven crawford
From: Plimmerton
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 1975

Posted at 2:09PM on 26 Jul 08. Permalink.

Steven, it would be fascinating to experience words & the creative process through your eyes/brain.

I don't know that there's anything spectacularly unusual going on from my perspective. I can't keep up with the subtitles on foreign films and I relay very heavily on spell check. What's recently been fascinating, from my creative perspective is the written word. Or more specifically, the printed word. I signed up for an art course a we while
back, interested in learning to make better applied art. Then what I discovered was academic art, where a thousand words is more important than a painting. Thousand word art, is like having tootle around with a model train set for me me.

Font design is caricature building.

I'm eventually going to make some animated ceramic glaze films. but in the mean time, thats part of a conceptual sculpture.

Have you tried turning your drawings or paintings upside down, to check there composition?

steven crawford
From: Plimmerton
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 1975

Posted at 2:14PM on 26 Jul 08. Permalink.

Thats weird, I was actually trying not to stuff that one up.

Steve Barnes
From: The City of Fails.
Since: Dec 2006
Posts: 1834

Posted at 2:27PM on 26 Jul 08. Permalink.

Something funky with DNS, methinks, coz I get the same IP address from boxes on which it works.

Trcert takes me to "sedoparking.com" (82.98.86.174) which is not the same as yesterday, "mint.hmdnsgroup.com" (63.247.141.23) which would suggest the domain up for grabs. Maybe your getting a cached page from somewhere or there's a misplaced redirect. Who knows, maybe someone has sued them into oblivion ;-)

Carol Stewart
From: Wellington
Since: Jul 2008
Posts: 194

Posted at 10:33AM on 28 Jul 08. Permalink.

I forgot to say, Jolisa, many thanks for this charming, thoughful and literate post. A new post from you is always a treat.

steven crawford
From: Plimmerton
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 1975

Posted at 8:36PM on 28 Jul 08. Permalink.

This is interesting

Islander
From: Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi Pounemu
Since: Feb 2007
Posts: 1653

Posted at 12:09AM on 29 Jul 08. Permalink.

Whoa steven! That site was fantastic! Run a mouse over *anywhere* and you get *anywhere*! So good-

Jolissa - I have resisted posting Uncle Bill and us dumprats (as kids & adults) because it would be very long & personal to the max but I truly enjoyed your post.

Islander
From: Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi Pounemu
Since: Feb 2007
Posts: 1653

Posted at 12:35AM on 29 Jul 08. Permalink.

Kerry Weston - I write, paint/draw, fish & cook (and build the occaisional building.) Within my whanau, there are people who can do those things too, some better,some less so, in some areas than me..what I loathe about the ANZ culture industry today is
* the gatekeeping*
especially about funding.
Any hoo, giving up just now-

Kerry Weston
From: Manawatu
Since: Jan 2008
Posts: 494

Posted at 9:18AM on 29 Jul 08. Permalink.

what I loathe about the ANZ culture industry today is
* the gatekeeping*
especially about funding.

yep, agree. Only had one crack at the funding thing, early on, it seemed very much a case of who you know & the network of influence being the deciding factor. Not my scene. Also allergic to "isms" so i don't really fit anywhere. I make gardens as my physical manual labour & used to make stone sculpture for them. Real life responsibilities have curtailed my arty practice alot, hopefully one day I'll be free to revitalise it all.Occasionally a good cook, but often can't be arssed. Lucky you surrounded by creatives, that must help keep the engine humming. Does your whanau make collaborative work or follow yr own stars?

Used to love scavenging in the old dumps & demo sites too. hate transfer stations.

steven crawford
From: Plimmerton
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 1975

Posted at 12:49PM on 29 Jul 08. Permalink.

Used to love scavenging in the old dumps & demo sites too. hate transfer stations.

I'm a fan of the robot nackers yards, we don't have allot of that in New Zealand yet. I'd like to do a robot tour of Japan. I'l bet ten grams of palladium, that it'd get the creative creature out to play.

Paul Williams
From: Sydney
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 1333

Posted at 1:20PM on 29 Jul 08. Permalink.

I'm not sure this fits here, but I've just seen this item about a film being made of Maurice Gee's Under the Mountain. Fantastic. I loved the book and the TV series.

FletcherB
From: Auckland
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 524

Posted at 1:53PM on 29 Jul 08. Permalink.

Paul, seeing as you loved the TV series.... As you are in Sydney you may not be aware that it's just this year been released on DVD... I saw it advertised just this weekend.

It's a TVNZ title and should be available at any good (NZ) DVD retailer, including online ones. (www.realgroovy.co.nz) for example.

Paul Williams
From: Sydney
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 1333

Posted at 2:23PM on 29 Jul 08. Permalink.

FletcherB, thanks - I didn't know this (although it was in fact in the item I linked to, but I'd missed it) and will follow up.

Jolisa
From: Northeast US
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 710

Posted at 6:40AM on 30 Jul 08. Permalink.

Ooh yes, Under the Mountain. Loved the TV series, and was fortunate to talk to someone involved with the new film, which will likely be just as good. Great recommendation.

On the question of suing and froing, I quite agree (although I haven't made a careful study) that that's how it works here - insurance companies driving the suits to cover their costs, not to mention their asses. I still don't like it. It ruins things for the rest of us.

Overlawyered.com is an excellent eye-opener on the subject. (Funnily enough, he linked to me back in the day, when the cost of liability insurance drove my favourite birth centre out of business). (And while I'm at it, check out this extremely silly copyright infringement lawsuit).

Jolisa
From: Northeast US
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 710

Posted at 6:55AM on 30 Jul 08. Permalink.

Scrapheap Challenge looks fantastic, thanks for the tip. While back in NZ in May, we also got our hands on a DVD of "Let's Get Inventin'" made by an Auckland outfit, Television Spaceman, which is pretty nifty.

Kerry, islander, Steven, so true and so beautifully written (and Steven, your own particular twist on hands-on thinking particularly appreciated). Much as I miss the big city, I can't imagine now how we managed without a garden to call our own, and earth in which to dig. Remind me to revisit Swallows and Amazons and how it led to the digging of a gold mine in our very own back yard.

And islander, by all means post your story about Uncle Bill and the dumprats! We'd love to read it. If it's very long and wonderful we can post it in the Speaker section - it's been a while since you graced us with your presence there :-)

Jolisa
From: Northeast US
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 710

Posted at 7:01AM on 30 Jul 08. Permalink.

I'm in two minds about the Greenwich thing.

At this point, I'm just kicking myself for missing the chance to use "Greenwich Mean Time" as my headline...

Kids playing wiffleball on public land? Seems entirely reasonable and wholesome.
Kids putting up fences and "pouring concrete" on said land? Can't say I'm in favour.

I know what you mean, Amy - and yet, how much concrete was it? Enough to hold up a post? And very quickly sledgehammered out by the town's hitmen. I think sinking a post is a very useful life skill, and wonder if the city could have been cleverer about channeling the kids' enthusiasm... were there other neglected sites in town that could have done with a clean-up? Other places where good fences (and fence-posts) could have made good neighbours? Other bored kids who might have been roped in to construct a playground or something?

On the other hand, turning it in to an official project negates the whole point of kids generating their own fun.

I couldn't find any recent updates on the situation in Greenwich, but the slide show Field of Dreams No More on the local paper's website tells a version of the story...

Amy Gale
From: smalltown USA
Since: May 2007
Posts: 314

Posted at 7:46AM on 30 Jul 08. Permalink.

I think sinking a post is a very useful life skill.

Ah, and such a part of one's kiwi childhood. I even got to pass it along a couple of years ago when we were doing some yardwork:

"Ok, now I hold the post and you shovel in the concrete. And I try really really hard to hold it still, but the shock of the concrete splats makes it move a little bit, and then you yell at me."

And I did, and he did, and it did, and he did.

Related the entire story to my dad on the phone later. He laughed for about twenty minutes.

Kyle Matthews
From: Dunedin
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 4281

Posted at 9:50AM on 30 Jul 08. Permalink.

"Ok, now I hold the post and you shovel in the concrete. And I try really really hard to hold it still, but the shock of the concrete splats makes it move a little bit, and then you yell at me."

Hmm. Your teacher didn't teach you to use a couple of posts lying down on each side, and then a couple more on the other sides to hold it up (in a cross formation)? If the posts are thick enough then the side that they're up the in air there's easily enough room to pour the concrete underneath.

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