I been skiving off just lately. In actual fact this post is going out so late today because I decided to go and do just that at the park this afternoon. So I packed up a cold drink and a book and tootled down the road to my favorite “do nothing” spot and read the entire book; start to finish.

Ok, so it’s a childrens’ book but let’s not quibble — some of the finest stuff out there is/was written for children. Also let’s not forget that I tend to channel both Eloise and Little Fuzzy; some part of me will eternally be six years old. Which I believe is a Very Good Thing Indeed.

This is Marvin, he’s a beetle and this book is mostly about him. Well, and a boy named James. Marvin loves art and in the above picture he is dipping his frontmost legs into an ink bottle cap. Marvin finds that he loves to draw.

He also loves looking at drawings; specifically pen and ink drawings and etchings. The story is about Marvin and James and Albrecht Durer. Yes, that Albrecht Durer, the one who did all those Very Famous drawings and etchings.

Masterpiece is smart, funny, with plenty of action and I enjoyed it throughly. And I love this trend of action and mystery stories for children which revolve around great art/artists and/or architecture. Yes, it’s rather sneaky to expose the little beggars to art when they think they’re just reading a fun story but it’s all to the good in the long run.

Side note: the whole time I was reading this book I kept thinking about archie the cockroach who gamely leapt from typewriter key to typewriter key tapping out the poems of his human pal e.e. cummings. Which is why all those poems are in lowercase only; no little roach, however accomplished, could hold down the shift key while simultaneously jumping from letter to letter.