Trupp : a Fuzzhead Tale

NOTE: I’m writing my “column” like a blog.  I want to give it more of a personal feel and conversational tone.  Please feel free to respond.  As I said in my first “post” I welcome feedback.  I call this “Laura’s Literary Soapbox” because it may have opinion interjected into it from time to time.  I also am writing this on an adult to adult basis/viewpoint.  I hope I have readers.  Hello . . . are you out there?

A little blurb about me . . .

     When I turned 40 I had one of those proverbial eureka moments.  I wanted my life to change direction.  I didn’t know which way I wanted to go; I just knew I needed to plot a different course and midlife freed me to make that decision.  Ah, hormones.  So I went back to school.

     I already had one year of school under my belt but I had no idea what I wanted to major in.  I just knew I needed to start down that ol’ educational path.  Initially, I took vocational tests and they showed that my strengths lay in organizational and detail-oriented skill sets.

     No, that wasn’t what I wanted.  I wanted to be different.  I wanted to explore and express a different part of myself.  I found out the hard way, as usual, that you can’t go against type.

     I came from a dental background and being detail-oriented was perfectly suited to that.  But I saw it as being nit-picky type A anal-retentive.  So, as I started classes, I decided I would see which vocation others chose for themselves.

     In my speech class (which I put off as long as possible) one of my fellow students mentioned he wanted to become a library technician.  I thought that sounded perfect.  I started to follow that path and I never looked back.

     I guess you can’t go against type.  Too much of what I love about librarianship is ingrained in my personality.  The only regret I have is not starting sooner.  Ah, regret.

     The hallmark of librarianship is sharing.  (Hey, didn’t I learn that in kindergarten??)  Of course, sharing with library patrons and the public goes without saying.  Good customer service.  But it goes beyond that.  There is no competition in library world.  We share ideas and resources with colleagues and other libraries.  There truly is strength in numbers.

     The story I’d like to discuss today is called “Trupp : a Fuzzhead Tale” by Janell Cannon.  Ms. Cannon is also the illustrator.  (Interesting title, eh?)  Trupp learns about sharing, strength in numbers and not going against type.  Future librarian??

     Trupp is a fuzzy catlike creature with a very mellow disposition.  His kind, blancofelis dexterodactylus, grows to be as big and tall as a man.  He has sharp claws that help him negotiate the terrain in his sandstone canyon home.  Note: I will try out my high school Latin here with a little help from Wiktionary for the definition of blancofelis dexterodactylus, the term provided by Ms. Cannon.  Blanco = white; felis = cat; dextero (dexterous) = “skillful in the use of the hands;” and, from Wiktionary, dactylus (dactyl) = “ . . . an allusion to the three joints of the finger.”  Nothing like intellectually breaking something apart.  In other words, Trupp is of the white cat family (genus) and has hands like a human.

     Trupp decides he needs a change (sound familiar?) and wants to explore the world beyond.  His clan warns him that he needs to keep his identity hidden from humans.  Other animals will be able to sense who he is, however.

     Trupp meets a crow named Krok when he borrows a scarecrow’s clothes for a disguise.  Krok comes with the outfit so they join forces.  They cadge a ride on a train and end up in a big city.  This is a foreign land and Trupp is very naïve and doesn’t know the rules yet he is anonymous amid all the hustle and bustle.  Then he is recognized by a human.

     Her name is Bernice and she recognizes him as “one of those cat-things.”  Bernice lives out of her shopping cart and proceeds to take care of Trupp and Krok.  Together they protect each other and Bernice shares what little she has.

     Trupp then decides that he has had enough of adventuring and he and Krok leave Bernice and the city so he can return to his clan.  Trupp returns the borrowed scarecrow’s clothes and Krok stays with the clothes as Trupp continues his journey home.

     “Trupp” is a wonderful morality tale of kindness and unsolicited reciprocity and I like to use it to introduce the concept of homelessness to little ones.  It’s a gentle reminder that “there, but for the grace of God, go I” (John Bradford c1550.)   

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