Me, Myselfie & I

July 30, 2018
The obsession all began, the narrator explains, with a birthday gift: “Mom is old-fashioned. She likes things hand sewn. To make her more modern, we bought a smartphone.” In their characteristic style, Curtis and Cornell (This Is Me) stretch this premise to outlandish lengths: besotted, Mom incessantly clicks selfies with her family, and then carries her fixation outside the home, taking pics of herself at a party store, a supermarket—other shoppers also fanatically snap selfies—and ski practice, until her new hobby wears thin (“Will this never end?”). One especially over-the-top self-portrait shows Mom with birthday cake smeared all over her head; the picture goes viral online, further fueling her zeal until the narrator insists on turning off all screens in favor of family reading and cuddling time. The narrative’s rhythm and rhyme scheme can be strained, as when Mom drags out her camera on the ski slope (“Whole ski-team selfie./ She’s a selfie fool./ Coaches act silly./ Kids too cool for school.”), but there’s no denying the merit of this raucous tale’s message. Ages 4–8.