Maude The Not So Noticeable Shrimpton

So I never thought I'd share a children's book on this blog, but I came across the most aesthetically pleasing book last night. I babysat my boyfriends niece and nephew, and like most times I babysit, we read a few books before bedtime. They had gotten some books at the library, and his niece wanted to read one called Maude The Not So Noticeable Shrimpton by Lauren Child and illustrated by Trisha Krauss. The cover was already very visually intriguing, so I myself was pretty excited to read it. And lo and behold, sometimes it's okay to judge a book by its cover.

Long story short, it's the story of the Shrimpton family. The entire family is obsessed with standing out, and gaining as much attention as possible. Except for their middle child, Maude. She blends in and goes unnoticed practically everywhere she goes. For her upcoming birthday, Maude decides that she wants a pet goldfish. Her parents, being the ostentatious folks that they are, instead get her a tiger and show it off as they take it on walks as a family. The book ends (spoiler alert) with the family running out of tiger food, and the tiger eating everyone except for Maude, who the tiger didn't notice, stating that, "sometimes, just sometimes, blending in is the very best talent of all."

I loved how although Maude doesn't like attention, she still wears cute outfits throughout the book. I feel like with personal style, a lot of people assume that people dress the way that they do for attention. I personally don't love attention, but do love wearing strange clothes, so I really related to that, possibly unintentional, part of the book. Its dark humor is also entertaining and the illustrations are gorgeous. It reminds me of a Wes Anderson movie, Emily the Strange (if any of you remember her), a little bit Edward Gorey, and maybe even a little bit Where the Wild Things Are. I'm planning to buy the book, simply because I love the illustrations, and Maude's dresses throughout the book are fantastic. We even ended up reading it a second time, and I noticed that time around that Maude is hidden in the background of some of the scenes. It's wonderful, and I recommend that you check it out. I found most of the illustrations from the book, but if you too would love to buy it, here's the link to it on amazon. I definitely plan on looking into this author and illustrator a bit more.