Ira Wordworthy

Stephen E. Cosgrove

Reading Ira Wordworthy at the same time I was reading Artemis Fowl gave me an interesting juxtaposition of kidlit. Cosgrove wrote for a much younger audience than did Colfer, but Cosgrove managed to avoid talking down to his audience. And that makes all the difference.

Based on the true story of an illiterate Arkansas shopkeeper, Ira Wordworthy is transformed into the tale of a crotchety old badger (and who can resist a book with a badger as the main character, I ask you?) who runs a town store and cannot abide kids sitting on the front porch reading books. (Would that we had such problems today!) One of the kids discovers that Ira is illiterate and sets about to correct the problem.

It's a lovely little parable, and a testament to the idea that you can just get on and tell your story, and the reader will get your point. Eoin Colfer, and many other writers of books for both children and adults, would do well to pay heed to the work of Stephen Cosgrove.