Reading Blimpo: The Third Circle of Heck by Dale Basye, was quite therapeutic. Having been an extremely thin child, baby-fat carrying preteen and weight conscious teen, I completely understand the thought processes of those kiddos sent to Blimpo! I knew I would connect with this book more than the others. I just knew it. And I was right...not only did I have internal issues about being slightly overweight throughout my teen years, I had the external bullying that accompanies any teen who stands out.
The theme of this third installment in the series is evident in Basye's afterword entitled Backword..."For so much of our life and death, we pine to be someone else, someone perfect. Inside and out (usually out)...The point is we should spend our time wanting to be ourselves--deliciously flawed as we are--rather than wanting to be someone else."
Suppose I should talk about the book now, not my insecurities...Ha! Well, there were numerous moments while reading Blimpo that made me laugh out loud and want to share excerpts with anyone sitting around me. Such as, when Lady Lactose and Heir Burgermeister introduce the kids to Dr. Kellogg (PE teacher) and his DREADmills in the gymnauseum. Catch the play on words? Love it! The vice principals hope to harness energy from the fears of kiddos sent to this circle of Heck...the kids are locked in, shown their greatest fear and are forced to run from it. As if that weren't enough, they are then tempted by "dessert island" and forced to run towards it. All that energy spent should result in weight lost, right? It would if the cook, Chef Boyareyoukrazee, weren't feeding them lost souls. A pop culture reference that tickled me was the Nyah Nyah Narcisisisterhood Cheerless Cheerleaders. Each girl sported a last name like Sheraton, Ramada...and were extremely mean! His reference to Paris Hilton is quite evident. LOL
One part of Basye's story I'm definitely interested in is the second reference/slam to a young adult author by the name of Jacques Couvillion, author of Chicken Dance. There must be some rivalry between the two authors, for Basye's character, Algernon Cole, is a dimwit phony lawyer who writes a book called, Chicken Pants. Why the lack of love? I've got to investigate. Our kids and teachers love the book, Chicken Dance!
I'm anxiously awaiting Book #4, Fibble. I'd tell you why, but that would ruin Blimpo for you.
Happy Reading!
RC
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