Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Alec's Arctic Army

Arctic Army by Alec Miller



In the center of the earth, these weird people lived in the center of the earth. Some other kinds of people wanted to take over their world. But they refused. So they had a war.




They got their army tanks ready.



They packed and got their guns and got on the planes.




They took off but after awhile they found the other team.




They had a fight.




But they were losing so they called in the helicopters.




This is the submarine. It took a long time to...




...make it. They set off in the little underwater boats.




The Arctic Army found the other team's base and they started to fight.



Then they went in the mountains and they found the other team. And they shot missiles and guns. It was very hard to fight.




They finally beat the mountain men. After that they found another base and they were surprised!




They fought for a long time.











The End.



My son Alec wrote and illustrated this book when he was around 7 or 8. I've always loved the details, the colors, and the amazing compositions of the pages, as well as his wording and comical misspellings (do click on these images and check out the details!).
When I was in grade school, I used to think that the boys looked so stupid hunched over their drawings of airplanes and missiles, making all their sound effects out loud with their spit flying vigorously all over the place, oblivious to the classroom around them. I think I was also was a little mystified and envious that they were so physical in their process...
(Camille Paglia says it all boils down to how we pee. Boys, standing, projectile - girls, squatting in one spot, close to the earth...)
If only it was simply about peeing. Or is it?
I don't understand what is going on with Russia and Georgia. Is it all about oil? (again?)
War. Huh. Good God, Lord. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing.

6 comments:

artslice said...

Hi Martha!

What a great book, and it's so detailed and long. Impressive. Love the peeing philosophy... makes a lot of sense to me :)

martha miller said...

I know - what concentration for a little guy!

Susan Beauchemin said...

OH ho! This is great! Makes me think WHY little boys should spend their time playing out war. I know that some are born into it, and some have watched glorified war stories on TV. The game boys and computer games are warish. Makes me think of a star trek I happened to see a segment of where captain Kerk and a few of his men and one hot lady were being held captive on this uninhabited planet where everything was provided for them and nothing much happened, like an animal kept in a cage. Kirk talks to the bloblike gaseous entity--(looked like they used cut up pieces of colored tissue paper for the flecks in the blob) He says, "BEING HELD HERE ON YOUR PLANET---OUR SPECES----MAN----CANNOT-----SURVIVE----YOU PROVIDE US WITH ALL THAT WE NEED---BUT---MAN NEEDS----OBSTICLES----TO--OVERCOME----WE WILL DIE--IF WE STAY HERE"

martha miller said...

I remember reading somewhere that men engage in war because they can't give birth.

Susan Beauchemin said...

So kill instead??

martha miller said...

creation/destruction

the same intensity of experience, perhaps?

i don't condone this, obviously! and of course it was someone's extremely generalized observation...

like the pee theory...

all conjecture...