Book Review #9 – “The Checker Players” by Alan Venable

Book Review #9 – “The Checker Players” by Alan Venable; published 2011 by One Monkeybooks Pub.

“You forgot to put the wind in your plans!” 

Genre of the Book. This is a perfectly illustrated children’s picture book that can be enjoyed by children and adults of all ages. Its lessons are timeless, and the story stands on its own without the need to make it a moral fable of some sort. The story is excellent as a read-aloud to younger children, has a reading level of later elementary to early middle school, and can be enjoyably used in marital counseling sessions. After exploring various used book sits on the internet, a copy of this classic can be easily picked up for $2-$4.

Overview of the Story: 

There are two characters in the story, and they light-heartedly enjoy completely different personalities… a carpenter bear who is extremely careful, quite meticulous in his attention to detail, and leaves nothing to chance; then there is a free-spirited tinker alligator who loves surprises, is completely spontaneous, and doesn’t care to plan anything in any way. The carpenter designs his plans before he starts, while the tinker makes things up as he goes along. As expected, the carpenter’s house was carefully designed and constructed and so was perfect in every way. The tinker’s house, though, was made of spare parts and bits and pieces of whatever he could find as he rummaged around.

One day, the tinker was struck by the idea of having a checker game with his neighbor the carpenter bear who lives across the river. So they arranged to have a game at the carpenter’s house, which meant the tinker had to swim across, which wasn’t a problem for him. The carpenter had arranged for everything well in advance… a game table made just for the occasion, comfortable chairs, and of course a homemade checker set. As one would expect, their styles of play couldn’t be more different. The carpenter was deliberate, cautiously moving his checkers only after careful, painstaking, low-risk strategizing. The tinker alligator was restless throughout the game, making noises, whistling, making one quick move after another, and then waiting long periods for the carpenter to make his move. The carpenter won that first game, and afterwards they both commented on how differently they played the game.

They arranged another checker game for Saturday, but this time the tinker alligator wanted to host the game at his house across the river. Since the carpenter couldn’t swim, the tinker instantly came up with a way to solve that problem. He tied a long rope to trees on both sides of the river, and all the bear has to do is pull himself hand by hand across the water. Before Saturday, though, the carpenter designed a perfect clothes-box in which to put his clothes so they wouldn’t get wet during his trip across the river. The carpenter hadn’t even considered the thought of placing his checker set inside the box too, since he built the box for his clothes, not his checker set. So the tinker threw together a makeshift checker set with whatever he could find around the house… a checkered tablecloth for the checkerboard; buttons and poker chips and bottle caps for checkers; orange crates to sit on; a big cardboard breadbox for the table. Once again, they each played their game in their own particular style, and this time the tinker was the winner. But then they had a big argument about how the game was played. The carpenter complained about how the tinker kept fidgeting, making noises, and making rather reckless checker moves. This apparently distracted the carpenter and kept him from concentrating in the ways he liked best. The tinker, though, was quite irritated with how long the game took, how it seemed forever between checker moves and how it tested the tinker’s patience greatly.

But the tinker didn’t give up his idea of playing checkers with his neighbor. He suggested that they each build a boat so they can meet in the middle of the river and play all the checker games they want much more easily. The carpenter loved this idea, so he immediately drew up a blueprint for his boat, and for days on end he sawed, chiseled and planed his wood pieces so that everything fit together perfectly for his boat. The tinker, though, scrumbled around in the trash and began building his boat with whatever he could find that seemed useful: an old piece of linoleum for the boat’s floor; a broken shovel for a paddle; a used-up billboard for the sides of the boat; a discarded porch awning for the roof. While the carpenter fit together his pieces snugly, the tinker glued pieces together with brown paste, used the heel of his shoe to pound carpet tacks, and stuffed the cracks with chewing gum and modeling clay.

The day came to put their boats in the river and float to each other in the middle. Tinker pushed his contraption into the water, and it immediately went bottoms up. His boat still floated though, so he decided to use his boat as a raft. The carpenter’s sailboat flew gloriously over the water, but an unexpected gust of wind blew the boat over and the carpenter flew into the water. He was unable to swim, so the tinker immediately dove into the water and rescued the carpenter, dragging him to the shore. After this dramatic rescue, the tinker observed that maybe he sunk so quickly because he still carried all his heavy tools in the pockets of his overalls. The carpenter looked aghast at the tinker and told him that of course his tools were in his pockets, where else would they be? Those pockets were made for those tools!

Once again, the tinker had a brainstorm… He suggested they build one boat together this time, big enough for the two of them, and they could play all the checker games they wanted right in the middle of the river. The carpenter agreed to the idea, and he went right to work making the plans, while the tinker said he could take care of emergencies. So they built the boat together as a team project, and they enjoyed many days thereafter floating on the river, playing checkers, and growing their friendship.

Enjoying the Story through Thoughtful Discussion. It often helps to talk about the story afterwards to make it even more interesting and meaningful. Here are some possible discussion points for various stages and ages:

Possible Discussion Questions after reading it aloud with younger children: 

• What did you like about the story?
• Was there any part of the story that you didn’t like so much? Why is that?
• What did you like about the carpenter bear? the tinker alligator?
• Did you have a favorite between these two characters?
• Are you more like the carpenter or the alligator?
• Are you different from both of them? Maybe a combination of the two?
• Have you ever tried to play a game or build something with someone who was different from you? How did that go?
• Do you think it’s okay to be different from someone else?
• Why do you think these two very different characters became friends in the end?

Possible Roundtable Discussion Questions with Middle School Students:

• What was the carpenter bear good at? Where could he use some personal improvements?
• What was the tinker alligator good at? Where could he use some personal improvements?
• Which of the two would you like to play checkers with? Which would be no fun whatsoever? Why?
• What was one foolish thing that each of them did in the story? One wise thing?
• Have you ever tried to be a teammate or do a group project with someone very different from you? How’d that go? What would you do differently?
• Is there one character who is a better person than the other? Why?
• Did one of the two seem happier than the other one? How can you tell?
• Why did each one win at home? Who will win when they are on neutral territory in the middle of the river?
• Did either of the characters change by the end of the story? How?
• Were there any stages to their friendship?
• How did they work through their conflicts?
• How would they have built that one boat together? Different responsibilities? Who would have done what?
• What is the most important lesson we can take away from this story?

Possible Discussion Questions in Pre-Marital Counseling: 

• Do you identify with one character more than the other? Why?
• Are you very similar to the carpenter or the tinker? Neither? Both?
• Have you two ever tried to build something together? How’d that go?
• Have you two played any kind of game together as teammates? As competitors? How’d that go?
• What frustrated the carpenter and the tinker about each other? Any similar frustrations between you two?
• How are you two different? How are you alike?
• How can you support and encourage each other in your differences?
• How can you be complementary and use each other’s gifts in the team project of your marriage?
• How can you discover what is life-giving in your spouse and help to make that happen?
• How can you embrace the way God made you while also embracing the way God made your spouse?
• How can you help each other keep your sense of humor and light-heartedness despite the inevitable conflicts and differences?

Where does the reader see these character qualities in this story? Acceptance; Cooperation; Perseverance; Honesty; Problem-Solving; Creativity; Shrewdness; Patience; Light-heartedness; Fair Play; Empathy; Compromise; Tolerance; Trying to find a win-win; Humility; Forgiveness; Spontaneity; Thinking Ahead; Synergistic; Grace.