WHAT DO SMURFS DO ALL DAY

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Peyo

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This is a very basic book which runs you through the everyday life of smurfs minus any drama. If your child likes smurfs, they will like this. There is no arc, no mystery, just an easy, relaxing read of having smurfs doing pretty much what many people do every day.

I like smurfs: when I was still with the ex-German-husband, they were my choice of tourist souvenir when we visited Germany. I like plastic figurines and the Germans seem to have smurfs everywhere even though they are originally Franco-Belgian...probably because Schleich makes the little figures, as it does all those cool animals.

There has been quite a number of papers written on the smurf world in general, namely the absence of females bar one bordering on a bimbo, the possibility of anti-semiticism in Gargamel and the dictatorship of papasmurf in his red communist pants. The original comic was started in the late '50's so maybe the times were bleeding into the comic, as is not uncommon. I personally think Peyo, pen name of Pierre Culliford, looks very much like Gargamel.

Back to this particular book in question. My kid loves it. It's a bit like a reference book: the smurfs wake up, dress, wash, eat, clean, play, learn, compete, relax, work and then go back to bed. They do it as a group, bar lone papa smurf putting them to bed [as a group]. There is no 'I'm an individual-lost-scared-unhappy' vibe happening, there is no 'who am I?' vibe happening. There is no 'what's life about?' vibe happening. It's all friendly, comforting and fun. Makes you want to be a smurf.

I'd recommend it if you were passing a shop and it wasn't too pricey. It is an easy book to read when you are brain-dead and want to have that five minutes bonding but don't want to get into using your brain because the day has been long and you can't wait to see your kid sleeping like an angel, dreaming of collective smurfs.