The Bromeliad Trilogy

This is another kick ass kid's book that is great even when you're an adult. In fact, I think I liked it better this go round.

See, I read each of the three book (Truckers, Diggers, and wings) when I was in middle school. They had the books at my school library, and it was one of many books I read to remind myself that I wasn't a lonely loser who had to read sci-fi to escape to a better place.

Well, a few things have changed since then. I'm still a lonely loser, but I've discovered Terry Pratchett since then, and was delighted to find that he wrote those books which I barely remember reading in the sixth grade. I set out to reread and was not disappointed.

Nomes are people about four inches high. They live faster and more difficult lives than humans. Masklin and Grimma (and their elderly charges) have to leave their hovel by a roadside cafe and end up in The Store, inhabited by other nomes. These nomes also have the Thing, a box that has been with them for a long period of time. The Store nomes believe that the benevolent spirit of Arnold Bros (est. 1905) watches over them and provides them with food, shelter, and Bargains Galore keeps them sfe from the devil, Prices Slashed. The Thing, actually a mini super computer, wakes up near the ambient electricity and informs them that the Store will be demolished in 21 days and that they have to take action to leave. All 2000 of the nomes inside, a number that Masklin didn't previously know.

It gets better from there. Inherent in all of this is a kind of humor that pokes fun at religious beliefs, the consumer ethic, and the way we live our lives in general. The description of Grandson Richard, 39, singing in the shower in Wings is truly priceless.

It gets very fanciful. The nomes are actually aliens shipwrecked on Earth from 15,000 years ago and there's a truck to be stolen, then a wrecker thingie, then a satellite. The nomes scavenge french fries and commandeer the lifts to go wherever they please. They take the signs of the Store very literally, and it's quite sharp humor. I find it funnier now than I did when I was 12, but I could easily see a 10 year old howling with glee over some of the passages. This is why Terry Pratchett is the bomb diggity. Oh yes, he is.

The plot of the trilogy is too convoluted to get into in this small critique. There are frogs and deep philosophical issues. It starts in the middle of things (in media res for the classic bluffs) and ends a little later in the middle of things. While it's a satisfying ending, I can't help wishing this was a quartet and not a trilogy. Pratchett hints of the nomes' future, but it's just that, a hint. He won't show you all of his cards, and it's that vague, anxious feeling you get after you fold. Did he only have a pair of threes or a full house?

This series is old enough that we'll probably never know. Alas. I'll regret it.

This is definitely worth a read. Good, solid fluff. And remember: Dogs and strollers MUST be carried at all times.