28. Summary of the lesson, "The Book That Saved The Earth"

'The Book That Saved The Earth,' written by Claire Boiko, is a fictional, comedic drama about a nursery book called "Mother Goose." The play's plot is set in the twentieth century, and it depicts an attempt by a Martian named Think-Tank and his crew to attack Earth. When his crew arrived at an Earth library, they were perplexed as to what books were for.  They were initially misled by Think-Tank, which mistook those weird things (books) for 'sandwiches.' They eventually discovered that the books are intended for 'communication' with the help of Noodle's (Think-Tank's assistant's) advice. They took vitamins and were able to read the book after that because it was tough for them to read stuff from the books.

 

The book they chose to read was "Mother Goose," a collection of nursery rhymes. Think-Tank felt terrified and disturbed after hearing lines like "a cow jumped over the moon, and a little dog laughed to see the cow's act, and a dish ran away with a spoon" transcribed by the crew. Think-Tank believed that Earthlings have advanced to the point where even pets are raised with emotions and that Earthlings could invade Mars with millions of cows.

 

Furthermore, since the image of 'Humpty Dumpty' resembled Think-Tank, he was terrified of the lines 'Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,' fearing that Earthlings would seize Mars and overthrow Think-Tank.

 

As Think-Tank was afraid of the poetry words from 'Mother Goose,' he ordered his crew to return to Mars rather than invade Earth. He also fled to Alpha Centauri, a star closer to our solar system. The play concludes with the moral that things should be analysed rather than taken at face value.