I was quite surprised when I finally closed this book. I had thought this book was just for children because of the adorable illustrations. When children read this book, they will think the donkey is cute and funny, but I suspect they won't care about the existence of the uncle.
I read the title and thought that this book would be a delightful story about the uncle and the donkey. The donkey was acting like a human: watching TV, playing piano and eating food with a fork. However when I saw the uncle's face I was surprised because his face is so emotionless. The donkey doesn't look sad at all. It looks like it is used to having fun.
It is interesting that the narrator is a little kid. The book starts with the sentence "My uncle's donkey is allowed in the house!". The kid starts to enumerate how donkey acts, and the story ends with the question "I wonder if my uncle's donkey would be allowed in our house?". It seems that the kid envies the uncle very much for having a donkey in his house, and would like the donkey to be in his/her home, too. That is because the kid thinks that it will be great to be with the donkey which is very friendly and funny. But the uncle, it seems, never thinks like that. He looks bored.
We realise that we can't find the uncle in every pages of the book. We only can find him in the pages about eating, working and watching TV. His life is tedious compared to the donkey's life which includes cartwheels, hanging out with friends and staying up late reading a favorite book.. I think Riddle tried to describe a life of a contemporary man who is so busy so he can't enjoy his life at all and so starts to become emotionally flat.
This book is an adorable picture book however I don't think that it is only for children. The narrator is just talking about what the donkey does, but we can find the true meaning of this story through the illustrations. I love this kind of book. An author doesn't need to write a 500 page book to express his thoughts. Through pictures an author can make people understand his opinion just as effectively.
Noelle Lee (Year 10)
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