DADS READ: “The Vanishing Lake” by Paddy Donnelly

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JER: “The Vanishing Lake” by Paddy Donnelly revolves around a mystery with, potentially fantastical, explanations.  Meara’s grandfather lives near Lake Loughareema, which vacillates between a small mountain lake one day and dry lakebed the next day.  Meara wants to get to the bottom of the mystery, but her grandfather’s ideas seem a bit too far fetched.  I mean, how would sheep wool completely soak up all the water or how many narwhal horn holes would it take to drain the lake, ReAlLy?!?!?

It reminds me of my one of my favorite “This American Life” podcast episodes - “Lights, Camera, Christmas!” (episode 728 - 25 DEC 2020) - the Mutchlers have “a family mythology of Santas that had its own logic, with many Santas and a family elf named Jeko”. 

I love magical realities, and I love creating games with my kids, such as: “Monster Lollipop” where I wait at the bottom of playground slides and entice my girls down the slide with promises of different flavors of lollipops until they are down the slide and gobbled up like “little girl lollipops” (always seems to make everyone else at the playground very nervous, but my kids LOVE the game and they, regrettably, beg to play it every time); “Upside Down Couch Coyotes” where my girls plant their head in the couch cushions and throw their feet over the back of the couch.  I pretend it is a “rare sighting” of the aforementioned, endangered animal and enthusiastically yell for Lake and Ejler to come downstairs to see the magical animal sighting, but my girls and the animals can never seem to be in the same room at the same time (a lot of “you just missed the coyotes, they were right there!”); & “Lumpy Car Seat” where Lake or Ejler crouch into the drivers seat and no matter how much I attempt to sit down or smooth out the seat cushion it stays extremely lumpy.

Can a magical reality ever go too far?  I think the Mutchlers may be an example in the This American Life episode, but I also admire how they kept the magic of Christmas alive.  I envy and fear how successful they were, but I love this book because it delicately treads the line of magical realities.

Should I worry that my kids might have or expect too much magic or silliness?!? It is an ongoing debate I have with myself.  What do you think?

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