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B is for beer, not for boy? That’s right it is, and it’s about time someone acknowledged it. Tom Robbins, author of B Is for Beer, recognized the place for the superior beverage at the top of the alphabet. (Perhaps A is for alcohol.) Robbins’ small book is billed as “A children’s book for grown-ups” or “A grown-up book for children,” and to be honest it’s hard to tell which is more accurate. The book is supposedly written as though for a small child, but with plenty of winks to the adults who are actually reading it. However, the prose is clearly aimed at adults, but he writes to them as if they slipped back into first grade.
B Is for Beer is the story of a five-year-old girl (almost six!), Gracie, who expresses an interest in her uncle’s mystery drink. When he breaks his promise to take her to the brewery for a tour, she takes it upon herself to find out what beer is all about. One can proves to be too much for such a youngster and the fun quickly and messily wears off. Fortunately the one being who can best describe the meaning of beer arrived as Gracie lie moaning in bed: the Beer Fairy. (Of course!) The Beer Fairy takes the girl on a fantastic trip teaching her how beer is made, what it's made from, and what it can do to a person, good and bad.
More beer after the break!
Few things in this world actually deserve to be called zany, but Tom Robbins’ writing is one of them. Beer Fairy and “children’s book for grown-ups” aside, Robbins’ prose is outlandish. Like his previous books, the author fills his pages with ridiculous, laughable, scarily accurate similes and metaphors. Gracie’s uncle has a “gravy bowl face and headless wood-pecker mustache,” and her Sunday school teacher’s breath was “so bad it could paralyze a rattlesnake.” Robbins’ voice bounces the reader along as though they actually were sitting on their grandfather’s lap, being read to. It is childish in its silliness, but adult in its astuteness.
B Is for Beer is a wonderful book for anyone fond of both beer and of Robbins-style, outrageous prose. It is unendingly funny, but also full of obscure facts about beer and beer making. (Some even this Bostonist didn’t know!) That said, it would also be a fantastic gift for someone getting interested in beer since it entertainingly explains the whole brewing process. Not sure how B Is for Beer would really go over with a five-year-old, but you can always try.
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