Rosy Cole’s Memoir Explosion
is a short story for young children — its lead character, Rosy, is 11 years
old, and potential readers are probably about the same age or a little younger.
It is a funny book about writing an exaggerated about oneself and one’s family
and friends. Rosy’s class is given the assignment to write about the most
interesting member of their families, and so Rosy decides to make her essay
about herself.  So she goes about finding out how to write a memoir.  She reads
a book titled "Write Your Life: A How-To Guide for Memoir" and she is
told that every successful memoir needs:

1.      Talent,
Tears, Turning Points

2.      Romantic
Relationships

3.      Confronting
Demons

4.      Overcoming
Obstacles

5.      Family
Feuds

6.      Rising
Above Failure

7.      A
Never-Before-Told Secret (Revealed at the End)

8.      Reader
Sympathy

Rosy decides that she needs to exaggerate a little, and she
also tells stories about the embarrassing things that her friends have done.
When she writes her memoir, her friends all become very annoyed with her for
being so insensitive, and they stop talking to her.  Rosy gets upset, but
things work out in the end.

Greenwald’s story is wittily
constructed, and the author illustrates it with fun drawings that convey
essential information.  The ideas of self-revelation and trust between friends
and within a family are quite sophisticated, and Greenwald explores them
thoughtfully.  The parallels between Rosy’s case and other recent elaborations
of the truth in memoirs are particularly striking, and surprisingly, Rosy
Cole’s Memoir Explosion shows some of the narcissistic temptations that go
with selling one’s own story.

© 2006 Christian Perring. All
rights reserved.

Christian Perring, Ph.D., is
Chair of the Philosophy Department at Dowling College, Long Island, and editor
of Metapsychology Online Reviews.  His main research is on
philosophical issues in medicine, psychiatry and psychology.

Categories: Children