The Cardboard Kingdom

All three of these chapters focus on The Importance of Parental and Guardian Support in improving children’s emotional landscapes. In “The Mad Scientist,” the story arc demonstrates the consequences of misunderstandings between children and their parents, for Amanda is devastated when her dad—whom she clearly admires—does not support her. This issue is further highlighted by her father’s apparent hypocrisy, for even though he urges her to accept people’s differences, he clearly cannot tolerate the idea of Amanda wearing a moustache. Thus, Sell and his team leverage this scenario to demonstrate the contrasts between different ideologies and cultures. In addition to highlighting the nuances of parental support, the chapter focuses on The Celebration of Diversity by introducing elements from Dominican legends and myths. However, the story also explores the misunderstandings that can arise when the norms of two different cultures clash. Because Amanda’s dad has inherited certain ideas from his culture, he does not realize that his admonishments about Amanda’s moustache reject her uniqueness and her admiration of him. However, the resolution of the story highlights the fact that reconciliation is possible when both parties make an effort to understand each other. Ultimately, once Amanda’s dad realizes the error he has made, he is willing to change his outlook for his daughter’s sake.

Standing as a contrast to “The Mad Scientist,” the chapter titled “The Robot” provides an excellent example of positive parental support, for Connie’s parents accept and honor her differences even as they encourage her to make friends beyond the confines of her house. Even before she is depicted as acting, speaking, and thinking like a robot, Connie’s differences are symbolized in the opening image of her burning some barbie dolls, thereby rejecting conventional gender roles and toys. This scene implies that she adopts the robot persona as a defense mechanism that shields her from the social difficulties of making friends.

However, despite her idiosyncrasies, Connie’s dad never attempts to make her change who she is; instead, he supports her and introduces the idea of the robot-themed birthday party, invoking The Celebration of Diversity in a very literal way. He even leans into Connie’s way of talking and seeing the world so that he can more effectively communicate with her. Because of her dad’s support, she takes a big risk in inviting everyone to her party, opening herself up to the possibility that no one will come. However, as they have demonstrated in previous chapters, the children of Cardboard Kingdom are very inclusive and readily accept the individual differences of their friends. One Connie has taken the first step, they happily accept her into their group and embrace her robot persona.

To buttress the continuity of the novel, characters from earlier chapters reappear at key points to address and develop specific themes. The most notable example of this can be found in the continued adventures of the Sorceress, for Jack’s attachment to this unconventional role causes friction between himself and his mother. However, it soon becomes clear that her frustrations have nothing to do with his fondness for dressing up and are instead a result of his mistreatment of his sister as part of his “evil” persona. For Jack, adopting faux-evil traits serves several specific functions. On one hand, “evil” is the label he has given to the thoughts and feelings that make him different from most of the other children; he simply does not yet have the language to describe his feelings. This dynamic becomes prominent in the heart-to-heart conversation that he has with his mom toward the end of the chapter. From the oblique dialogue, it is clear that she recognizes that Jack is probably somewhere on the LGTBQ+ spectrum, and she wants to support and reassure him. At the same time, she doesn’t want to assume too much or impose labels onto him. Her indirect method of broaching of the subject implicitly highlights the undercurrents at work, for when she hesitantly says, “It’s totally fine that you’re...you know...” (186), Jack breaks in by asking, “What? Evil?” (186). This exchange reveals that for Jack, “evil” is how he understands himself at this point in time. However, while being the Sorceress makes him feel “magical and powerful and amazing” (187), the fact that he calls his persona “evil” suggests that he subconsciously understands that his differences are not readily accepted by everyone in broader society. Thus, Jack’s second purpose in adopting the “evil” label is to find a way to self-isolate and protect himself from rejection. By adopting the trappings of a villainous role, he creates a situation with a built-in excuse for his frequent solitude. This tactic demonstrates his need for strong parental support, and after being his mother reassures him, Jack changes his approach to being “evil.” He stops treating others as minions and goes on to establish the Army of Evil, actively working with other children rather than bossing them around or opposing them.