This book is inspired by the true story of the author's childhood life in Germany, he is scared of being rejected and laughed at by others and keeping all his fears by himself. Besides the author, he is the illustrator of this book. A Cool Kid –Like me! by Hans Wilhelm is a meaningful and touching book, it is not only fun but also ironic story. Overall, I truly enjoy the story. The narration style is really good, I can clearly feel what the protagonist feels, it also makes me happy, sad, angry and empathetic at the same time. The story is really simple, but feels real because the issue can definitely relate to the targeted age group. Other than that, the illustrations are amazing, the illustrator draws thoughtfully because every color and shape has a deep meaning, making the reader more immersed in the story that he makes.
If we see the cover, we would know almost the whole story. For example, the color of the title was red, it means attention-getting, powerful, confident and passionate, other than that, it also meant over-bearing, tiring and fearful which matched to the characteristics and situation of the protagonist. Moreover, the kid in the picture was looked scary by the shadows behind, and hugging his teddy bear under the blanket. According to Carl Jung's theory, the projection of shadow is a part of your mind that you can't accept as a part of yourself. Moreover, Corrnie Sweet, a psychologist, said that, hugging teddy bears evokes a sense of peace, security and comfort. Besides that, kids who haven't bonded well with their mothers–psychologists call it "insecurely attached"–will stay behind with an adored security blanket, according to a study. Thus, the information that we get from the cover is a kid who has problem in his mind and doesn't tell to his mother (or parents) but he also has something which can solve the problem. Furthermore, other pictures and narrations also have implicit meanings. If you don't believe me, I will prove it below!
The story begins with the narrator's statement, "This story is about a kid everyone thought was so terrific and so cool. That kid was me." His phrase "everyone thought" meant that what everyone thought wasn't the same as the real situation. That phrase repeated twice throughout the story, as if the boy emphasized that reality was very different from their thoughts. The others thought that the boy is a cool kid because he looked like a creative, powerful, responsible and friendly boy. Look at the picture below:
In that picture, the boy was often wearing a yellow shirt and once blue. Psychologically, yellow means creativity, challenging and fun, while blue means responsibility. Besides that, art is identical to creativity, soccer is very popular sport in Germany, and keeping our body healthy is kind of responsibility. Hans Wilhelm illustrates the boy as a child who can do everything well.
However, that was all just the outside of him. In fact, his outside was different from his inside, he had a lot of fears. The worse, his parents thought that he was a cool kid, they only knew that their child was as great as other children without knowing or even asking what really happened with him. It was further clarified in this passage, "My parents left me alone a lot. They thought I was a cool kid. But that was only on the outside. They didn't really know me." The boy covered up his feelings because his parents who should understand him the most were busy with their own business. In this case, I feel sorry for the boy, he wouldn't have done that if his parents had spent more time getting to know his child, and I think this book is not only for kids but also for parents to understand how their child's feelings.
Fortunately, the boy had his grandma who knew him inside and outside. He could share who he really is to his grandma, because she always listened enthusiastically to what he was doing and feeling. It was explained in this passage, "Nobody know what I was really like on the inside—except my grandma." Look at the picture below:
His grandma was wearing yellow pajamas. Besides creativity, challenging and fun, yellow also means communicator, enthusiasm and loves to talk. It is appropriate to represent the characteristics of grandma. That is why the boy is more comfortable with his grandma than his parents.
When his grandma went for a long vacation, she gave him teddy bear to accompany him. The boy is so lonely, he didn't have someone to confide in, so at the night before he slept, he talked to the teddy bear and told all his fears because when people lack social contact, they replace humans with an object as opposed to talking. Katherine powers, a psychological scientist and lead researcher said that, this increased sensitivity to animation shows that people use a wide net when looking for people they might connect to which in turn can help them maximize opportunities to renew social connections. In this case, even though his life hasn't changed too much, at least he has friends to share.
In the morning, he felt refresh because he had told his problem to the teddy bear, his burden of his life seemed to be reduced and he could be a cool kid as usual.
In the picture above, the color was dominated by yellow, blue and pink, those mean optimism, cheerfulness, peace and calm, and a sign of hope. Hans Wilhelm illustrates that morning as a beautiful and pleasant new day. Then, when his grandma came home again, everything seemed getting better, "When grandma come home again. Boy was I Happy! On the outside and on the inside, too!"
At the end of the story, I still feel sorry for the boy. Everything feels still the same, why? Because, even though he has the teddy bear and his grandma, the fact is he still conceals his fear of others. As I mentioned before, the phrase "everyone thought" explained the difference between what it looked like and what he really felt. This is started because his parents didn't care about him due to the lack of time they spent together. Even though he had friend to share, he must still covered his true identity to keep his cool-kid image.
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