About book Jacob Two-Two Meets The Hooded Fang (2003)
We all grew up with television, right? I still remember when I was a 5-y/o toddler and I was sitting on the floor right in front of our black-and-white television. I was watching a belly dancer and my parents and siblings were laughing because I was having a hard-on.I also remember the many times that my mother asked us not to watch too close to the TV screen as the radiation it can damage our eyes. So, when I became a father, I said the same thing to my daughter. We all tend to tell to our children those things that we heard from our parents when we were young. We sometimes take those as bible-truths without asking why. I remembered this while reading this classic children’s book, Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang (1975) because the main protagonist, Jacob says everything twice because he thinks that his parents and four older siblings do not hear him if he says what he wants to say only once. Mordecai Richler (1931-2001) was a Canadian Jewish author, screenwriter and essayist. His 1989 novel Solomon Gursky Was Here was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1990. However, his most popular book seems to be Barney’s Version released in 1997, that was an autobiography by Barney Panofsky recounting his life in varying detail with the ending having Alzheimer’s Disease. In an interview before his death in 2001, he said that his original goal was only to have at least one book that would honestly portray the difficulties they faced by Jewish minorities in Montreal in the 30’s and 40’s. He ended up writing a lot of known and bestselling books, movie scripts and has been recognized as one of the writers who made relevance to Canada’s history as a nation. When Jacob is imprisoned with scary Hooded Fang as the warden, he does not feel afraid because he thinks that Hooded Fang is, deep inside, a good man. This reminded me of the good-natured Jewish people in concentration camps during that Holocaust who clung to their hopes that the German camp leaders still had goodness in their hearts despite the blatant atrocities that they were doing. Richler’s Jewish parents fled Europe before he was born but still he suffered being ostracized in downtown Montreal while he was growing up.While reading the book, I tried thinking what could I have felt following the adventures or misadventures of Jacob Two-Two. He is helpless and lost when he is persecuted getting a prison sentence of 2 years, 3 months, 2 weeks and 2 minutes. He must have felt really sad while being brought to the Children Prison hundreds of miles away from the civilization. However, he must still be hopeful because his elder brother and sister gave him a tracker so that he could be rescued later. So, there is still hope that is probably similar to the hope that the Jewish people kept in the hearts while suffering inside the concentration camps.So, why do children stay too close to the TV while watching? Child psychologists say that it is because their surroundings are noisy and they are very interested on what they are watching. So, they go near the TV so as not to be distracted. Funny, right? If we see them too close to the TV, we tell them repeatedly to sit stay away from the screen or else their eyes would be damaged. Then because of our noisy nagging, they would go nearer. So, it becomes a chicken-and-egg thing. The trick is to be silent, give them space and let them enjoy the show. Having your son with a hard-on is normal be it in the morning when he wakes up or while watching a TV show with a bevy of dancing beauties.
Ok...how to review this? So, I watched the movie first (gasps of horror), and thought it was TERRIBLE. Then I saw there was a book that was only about 80 pages, and I thought it would be funny to read it. Maybe the book is better right? Well, it was better, but still not very good. Probably because this would have been my reading level about 5 years ago. The story wasn't very deep, and they didn't give many details, so I was a little confused at some points. Younger kids probably wouldn't care though. So, it was an okay book, but better for like 3rd or 4th grader. (JUST DONT WATCH THE MOVIE)So, I watched the movie first (gasps of horror), and thought it was TERRIBLE. Then I saw there was a book that was only about 80 pages, and I thought it would be funny to read it. Maybe the book is better right? Well, it was better, but still not very good. Probably because this would have been my reading level about 5 years ago. The story wasn't very deep, and they didn't give many details, so I was a little confused at some points. Younger kids probably wouldn't care though. So, it was an okay book, but better for like 3rd or 4th grader. (JUST DONT WATCH THE MOVIE)
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I inherited my love of reading from my mother. I would marvel at her bookshelves, and I could always find her at the end of the couch, unsweetened ice tea in hand, nose in her latest paperback. Mom would sometimes take me to the library, which beat Disney World any day. I could get lost in that place, thumbing through books and exploring shelves. I recall the afternoon she brought Jacob Two-Two home for me. I was stoked that the main character had my name. The book seemed gigantic, and the vocabulary was baffling (how many 6 year olds know "nefarious"?). Returning to it 30 years later, I didn't remember much. Some of the illustrations tickled my nostalgia, but not much from the story itself. Richler's themes are the absurdity of childhood imagination and the pitfalls of taking ourselves too seriously. I'm looking forward to reading this to my daughter in a few years.
—Jacob O'connor
As a child in school, I heard "Jacob Two-Two Meets The Hooded Fang" humorously mentioned but knew nothing about it. I also have vague awareness of Mordecai Richler and was surprised to find him author of this whimsical character. I discovered it was a series, by him, after picking up "Jacob Two-Two & The Dinosaur" in a thrift store. Preferring to observe the timeline of story development, I soon found this prequel at another sale and dug in.This embodies a definite stretch of imagination, pertaining to Mordecai's originality and the tale itself being a dream. I applaud the great degree of detail and tremendous whimsy that resulted.
—C.
I have vivid memories of this book from my childhood. Trembling in terror as Jacob is hauled away by Master Fish and Mistress Fowl. Cheering when Shapiro and O'Toole send out the Child Power signal... This past week, I read this to my daughter and I was thrilled that it captured her imagination. So glad that it held up after all these years! This is an excellent book to share with the young ones in your life. A Canadian Classic!I have to encourage you to track down a copy with the original illustrations. The new copies are just not as good.
—Brad Wojak
