Getting It Together: After the Fall (How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again) by Dan Santat

HIGH UP ON THIS WALL!

I KNOW, IT'S AN ODD PLACE FOR A EGG TO BE, BUT I LOVED BEING CLOSE TO THE BIRDS.

Humpty Dumpty knows that he has a fragile physicality, being an egg and all, but up there, in the air, close to his beloved birds, is where he wants to be.

BUT THEN ONE DAY, I FELL.

(I'M SORT OF FAMOUS FOR THAT PART.)

The Great Fall changes Humpty's life drastically. He takes a new job as a grocery store clerk, but he's so afraid of heights that even stocking the top shelves is scary. Walking by that wall on the way to work every day reminds him of what happened. He's definitely suffering from post-traumatic fall syndrome.

But the worst part is that he has to watch the birds from the ground, flat-footed. The birds soar high above, flitting happily from steeple to tower. Watching from below is not the same as being up there among them. Life on the ground is getting Humpty Dumpty down.

THEN ONE DAY AN IDEA FLOATED BY.

Actually, it was a paper airplane that floated by, but the idea of controlled flight lifts Humpty's hopes. Perhaps he can build a device that will allow him to rejoin the birds in the air. He builds several flying machines, but it seems that what goes up still comes down. It's a definite downer. And there is definitely a certain gravity in that realization. Humpty realizes that there is no easy way out of his dilemma.

It's time for Plan B.

Humpty starts to climb that wall. He's terrified. Totally. He knows that he's best known for falling. But then...

He thinks of all the things he's been missing, and he keeps on climbing.

HOPEFULLY YOU'LL REMEMBER ME AS THE EGG WHO GOT BACK UP....

There are second acts in children's literature, in Dan Santat's new picture book parable on the importance of getting-back-on-the bike-type courage, After the Fall (How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again) (Roaring Brook, 2017), shows. Santat, the Caldecott Award winning author-illustrator (for The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend(see review here) is brave enough to use even the famed nursery rhyme crackup Humpty Dumpty as his doughty hero in this sweet little story of second chances in life. Even Santat's endpapers are clever, showing the iconic fish out of water trying to adapt. A funny and meaningful tale of how it's never too late to re-imagine yourself.