Technolandy

Day 11 (of 2025/26) Episode 2 of New Media: the joy of comics err, graphic novels (cuz academia, y’know?)- and losing a great one… let the celebration of Robert Munsch’s life begin now! #toontuesday  

Canadian icon Robert Munsch has chosen to die by MAID — National Post

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.6904065

Sizzle Reel:

YouTube Long: https://youtu.be/3w0N4QiSBSk

Sigh – on a day when I was hoping to launch a bit of a Caroonists Club for kids who love comic books in all forms and formats (anime, cartoons, strips, issues, series, graphic novels, movies, etc) to both consume and create… as much as I tried, the art gene definitely skipped a generation with me… 

And for an author who brought forward a different lens on the classic tale via Paperbag Princess to challenge stereotypes, and then many laughs for librarians like me to shout out Clang! Clang! Rattle Bing Bang! Gonna make my noise all day! Or putting on my best kindergarten voice when emphasizing “We Share EVERYTHING!” 

Sadly, he is going to continue to get people talking as he has decided on a medically assisted death after being diagnosed with dementia along with Parkinson’s disease. 

I was thrilled to be able to bring my kids, when they were young, to see Robert perform live. I teased him with a book about our school done as a parody to try to encourage him to come visit our rural school in BC – you couldn’t book him… he would choose when and where to ‘pop in’ and I wanted to make sure he knew he would always be welcome. 

When I worked in a bookstore, we LOVED Love You Forever… not as a read aloud… but because of the number of copies that would be bought to give at baby showers and other similar gatherings by grandparents, aunts and uncles… to me, always a sad book… not one of the bright colour/themed Michael Martchenko collaborations. 

His health has not been a secret – he has shared about his bipolar disorder… his stroke… and his addictions… and most recently dementia, which ended his writing part of life. 

I loved hearing him “retell” his stories… though they were never actually retellings… just that one version happened to be put into print… there were still many iterations of every story – I think that is what made his stories magical… everyone could put their own voice and spin into the stories – they were crazy in all the best ways! 

And even he has faced book bans… Paperbag Princess was challenged for being ‘anti-family’ and portraying a strong independent princess who rejects the traditional fairytale ending… another, Giant or Waiting for the Thursday Boat dared to depict God as a black girl… Good Families Don’t faced objections for the objectionable content… passing gas… nope, I gotta say it – cuz of farts.

And then others because they encouraged ‘disobedience’ , rebellions, and high-energy of preferably docile children – not helped by librarians like me reading books LOUDLY

Robert Munsch. Born an American. Embraced as a Canadian. Faced personal challenges as well as book challenges. I wish he would be around forever… but dementia is cruel – I am seeing it in a few close family connections… and I wish him will now that his decision is public. 

To end on a positive, my daughter is blogging as part of her job with Waterloo Public Libraries – her first share is on the amazing Marjane Satrapi (if you haven’t, depending on your age… you gotta read Persepolis) and her collection: Woman Life Freedom: https://www.wpl.ca/blog/woman-life-freedom/