I love this article about the book, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie," because it shows how exciting interpretative analysis can be even with a children's book. For me, I laugh at how we misunderstand the grasshopper and the ants story. What we forget is the end of that story, which is, after the grasshopper is shamed, the ants realize their cruelty is worse is than the grasshopper's supposed laziness, and invite the grasshopper to join them in the food and shelter during the winter. It is why I get so frustrated when people start talking about the "undeserving" poor and promote punishment values when it comes to most economic public policy issues.
