A special guest blogger presents Richie Rich in “The Big Swim” & “Busy Kids”!

I am so excited for this blog because we have a guest blogger, the fabulous Larry T, whose Richie opinions I always love to read. I asked if he would submit stories and thoughts from time to time and I am thrilled we got him! I have put Larry’s comments in italics, but I believe you will be able to tell the difference as my commentary tends to have a lot of exclamation marks!

Read on and enjoy…

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I found this story rather interesting because it paints Richie in a less admirable light. It was illustrated by Dom Sileo and is rather out of character for our friend (and Gloria too, who outright insults the antagonist).

First of all, although Hank is obnoxious (including to the teacher/chaperone) and even when he’s outright told he’s a jerk, he laughs it off. You’d think that by this point in his life someone would have laid him flat out and he’d have begun to figure things out…

Secondly, Richie takes it upon himself to provide retaliation…moreover, he uses his wealth to rub the loss in Hank’s face. Generally Richie’s character doesn’t resort to this kind of thing. The unfortunate message is that I’m sure many kid thought to themselves after reading this, “Oh, I guess only the rich people have the power to instigate discipline on troublemakers. I’m not rich, so I’ll just have to shut up and put up.” 🙂

Excellent job of chaperoning, lady! Just read your book, no one will be trying to drown Richie or his friends….

And now a story where we see how difficult it is to get hard working employees…

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This is a wonderful little story basically explaining why the Rich family is wealthy (from Richie Rich #11):

1.) Richie properly assesses why the boys’ business is failing

2.) Richie sees an opportunity to invest in a market he can grow

3.) When business picks up, Richie expands into other services to continue the growth of the venture

4.) As demands grow, profits grow, and the business transforms

5.) When normal kids tire of working, Richie keeps thinking of ways to 1-up his business

6.) The regular boys avoid doing scholastic tasks like arithmetic and leadership where Richie tackles them…and naturally ends up in the manager’s seat

This is likely what he’s learned from being the only child of a business mogul. 🙂 (even if his net profit is low…had he kept going, it would have risen)

Thank you, Larry!

Have you seen these stories before?

 

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