Paul's New Ears

Adиle Ashby, a library consultant, is the former editor of Canadian Materials for Schools and Libraries.

Paul’s New Ears is a reasonable attempt to portray a child’s
reluctance to accept change.

The story deals with the trauma of a young boy’s first grown-up
haircut. When Paul arrives home after a visit to the barber’s, he
refuses to take off his hat and shuts himself in his room, where he
views the disaster and recalls the thick, dark hair “that had always
covered his ears.” His father tries to coax him by pointing out that
now that he can see his ears, he might even get to like them. He talks
about all the different kinds of ears—floppy ones, wiggly ones, long
ones—that belong to dogs, elephants, and so on, until Paul begins to
imagine what they all might look like in place of his own. The images he
conjures up are so funny that he begins to laugh and to appreciate his
human ears and their possibilities. He finally emerges from his room and
takes them out into the sunshine.

Steiner, who did both the text and the illustrations, is an animator
whose work has appeared on “Sesame Street.” Her watercolors show the
influence of an animator’s love of action.