September 21st, 2017

Feature Spotlight: Marvin

by Tea

This week, we’re reading Marvin, by Tom Armstrong.

 

Marvin focuses on the life of a red-headed toddler who thinks he’s the center of the universe– and why not? He’s certainly the center of HIS universe. Marvin lives in a multi-generational family with his parents, Jeff and Jenny Miller, and grandparents, Roy and Bea.

 

Marvin is precocious enough to observe how bizarre adults can be to his two-year-old brain, but still very much a baby who hasn’t quite figured out how the world works.

That’s not to say any of the adults in his life have figured out how the world works!

Possibly the only, er, person, who has it together in the Miller household is the family dog, Bitsy, who acts as Marvin’s confidant and mentor (and intellectual superior). Bitsy is wiser than the average dog– of course, whether that’s true, or just how Marvin sees him, is up for question.

Marvin, of course, isn’t quite ready to see his peers in preschool as his equals, either.

The rest of the Miller clan struggles to balance their full lives– between work, child-rearing, and the challenges of retirement, they’ve certainly got their work cut out for them.