I Can Explain, cartoon-inspired lunacy on bad habits that teach a lesson via laughter

When I was a kid I wouldn’t talk for a couple of hours because I liked to imagine that I had a finite amount of words that I could speak on a given day. And if I was to use up my words with something silly, then that would just be wasteful, and my parents wouldn’t have liked that, would they? I Can Explain is an illustrated book from that same vein of illogical thinking that makes perfect sense if you’re a kid.

Granted, you’ll also be able to lock into the nonsensical happenings of I Can Explain if you spend a fair amount of time with an elementary school student. They’re obviously breaking the pencils because the lead is transmitting to an evil alien race of super beings, so it’s a good thing. Author Shinsuke Yoshitake examines the eccentricities of one young boy and the way that he rationalizes them. It’s humor that fans of Stephan Pastis or the more surreal works of Jim Benton will latch onto. This is hilarious, laugh-out-loud stuff, if you’re the kind of person that likes to do that.

You might be kind of like The Housemartins and simply grin, then grin wider, and then exhale. Whatever your camp, when you dig into I Can Explain you won’t need to explain why you enjoy it.

Our titular boy is about eight-years-old and he picks his nose. His mom gets angry at him and has told him he has bad manners. One day when she catches him doing it he says that he’s not. Parent/Educators: please raise your hand if your youth has ever said that they weren’t doing something, despite you having just seen them doing it. Thank you for allowing us to vent for a moment.

In this case, the boy simply explains to his mom that there’s a button in the back of his nose. By pressing said button he is releasing beams of cheer that make people around him happy. These beams make mom and dad happy, and they want to be happy, don’t they? Mom (in the book), much like my Mom (back in the day), tells the kid (me) that they’re already happy and that he should stop releasing the cheer beams, or start talking.

The boy happily goes about his day and proceeds to watch television, where he absentmindedly bites his nails. Thankfully, the inaudible sound of his teeth gnawing on his fingernails acts as a deterrent for the crows who hang out near the trash. He also has a bad habit of squeaking his chair legs. When he blows bubbles in his drink with his straw he’s actually communicating with the animals.

He then continues down a litany of habits and their highly improbable reasons as to why they’re not actually bad, at all. The boy suddenly realizes that adults might do things also, much like he does. He notices that mom touches her hair a lot and when he quizzes her about it she lets him know the real reason that she does it.

I can Explain is a very entertaining, funny, absurd book that ages five and up will laugh at. Those young audience members will look at you out of the corner of their eyes and ask themselves if it’s true. And no, despite whatever creative, left-field answer or excuse you might have about you chewing on your straw until it resembles regurgitated bird food, it’s not true. It is, however, a very funny, timeless book that you’ll read again and again to those elementary-aged kids.

I Can Explain is by Shinsuke Yoshitake and is available on Chronicle Books. There are affiliate links in this post.