‘Lala Burara’ is a story about mess that’s a little too neat

Excel Dyquianqco's "Lala Burara" (OMF Literature, Inc., 2015), illustrated by Tintin Pantoja, offers little thrills for older readers, but it compensates well with its earnestness to impart an important lesson. After all, if our sidewalks are any indication, cleanliness is a value too often overlooked.

The plot unfolds, in a manner of speaking, neatly and well-meaning parents could potentially benefit from stories with “ready-to-eat” values for their kids. The main character, Lala, ignores her mother's blunt nagging (her reminder conveniently includes a command to get rid of a science project) about the mess in her room...and then the mess in her room attacks her mother. One assumes that a child, upon seeing the scenes fleshed out colorfully by Pantoja, would immediately want to prevent their own mothers from being eaten by monsters.

Scaring children into obedience is an age-old tactic and seeing as the belief in karma and the supernatural endures well into adulthood, the effect does last. The only caveat is that it teaches the child to be afraid of a fictional foe instead of real consequences. A story with a shrub gone rogue might encourage kids to be wary of science projects (or science in general) and, worse, think plants are evil. Seems silly, but if adults can be impressionable, it's safe to assume kids are even more so.

Still, it's not hard to imagine "Lala Burara" in a scene that's always in danger of fading into obscurity: a parent reading a book to child. It's enjoyed best when read out loud, with parents hamming up the lines from the book and embracing its daffy trajectory. — BM/GMA News

"Lala Burara" is available in bookstores.