The Shrinking of Treehorn

This miniature book, illustrated by Edward Gorey, is a pure delight punctuated with laugh-out-loud moments. An interview with the author enriches the story: "And because I had been looking for an idea for a new book, I thought what about a mother who keeps saying That's nice, dear, no matter what's happening." And later, upon seeing a neighbor boy she hadn't seen in a while: "Oh, for heaven's sake, of COURSE he's grown, don't sound so surprised. Surprised would be if he'd grown smaller."

A boy named Treehorn is shrinking, but the adults around him - parents, bus driver, teacher, principal - either ignore or deny his predicament or don't take him seriously. When Treehorn discovers a way to reverse his shrinking (a board game he'd sent show more away for from the back of a cereal box), everyone is relieved - so when he turns green, he decides, "I don't think I'll tell anyone...If I don't say anything, they won't notice."

See also: Imogene's Antlers by David Small

"Guess they couldn't think of any other name, once they thought of Treehorn." (bus driver, 38) show less

Brilliant, and funny for grown-ups too. It was an important book to me as a child and I have to wonder just how much it's unconsciously affected me. I'm a civil servant and the problems Treehorn faces are very much like mine. If you point out a problem you get a set of responses very much like Treehorn gets, and eventually, if you want something done, you have to do it yourself (though in real life sometimes they try to stop you). It grinds you down. I am literally fourteen inches shorter than when I started 9 years ago. I've reached the stage now where if everything turned green I wouldn't bother mentioning it.

This is a short children's book I remember reading as a child, recently read aloud to my son. My son liked it because of the simple but fantastical plot--Treehorn suddenly begins shrinking, but figures out himself the culprit is a game he ordered from a cereal box but didn't finish playing. He also likes the unexplained cliffhanger--why did Treehorn turn green? I love it because of Edward Gorey's wonderful drawings--particularly the clothes--and because of the clueless grown-ups populating the story. The over-enthusiastic principal has to be my favorite: "That's what I'm here for. To guide. Not to punish, but to guide. To guide all the members of my team. To solve all their problems." If Treehorn wants to solve his problems, he'll have show more to do it himself, because no one around him has a clue. Still a super-cute book, after all these years. show less

"If you want to pretend you're shrinking, that's all right," said Treehorn's mother, "as long as you don't do it at the table." But Treehorn wasn't pretending. He really was shrinking, and that didn't make life easy for him as he become smaller by the moment. Treehorn's teacher said, "We don't shrink in this class," and sent him to the Principal. Poor Treehorn spends an unhappy day and night until he discovers a magical game that helps him solve his problem. With his usual tongue-in-cheek approach, Edward Gorey glorifies the many imaginings of the story in witty pen and ink drawings.

Gorey's art adds savage bathos to this Kafkaesque tale of juvenile insignificance.

A cute story about the ineffectiveness and unreliability of adults.

A satire of the relationships between lonely little children and self-cnetered adults? Compare to [b:Imogene's Antlers|339040|Imogene's Antlers|David Small|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347351898s/339040.jpg|2694257]....