Rethinking Trash Truck Gender

Everything you thought you knew about trash trucks is wrong. At least, that’s what we learned this week in Bill Weevil Chapter 7.

One of the beautiful things about the imaginations of children is that they answer questions no one is asking. No adult has ever answered the question, “Are trash trucks boys or girls?” Everything inside our adult brains says, "If no one is asking the question, why waste time coming up with answers?"

Because that’s the essence of creativity.

Because if you want to create something unlike anything anyone has ever seen, you have to ask the questions no one else is asking. This applies to everything.

Stories: If no one asked, “What if an alien was rocketed to earth by his father seconds before his planet was destroyed?” there’d be no Superman.

Interior Decorating: If no one asked, “How can I train for the Olympic Ping Pong team in my studio apartment?” there’d be no Ping Pong Door.

Survival: If no one asked, “What’s the fastest way to go from REM sleep to sprinting from a grizzly in the Bearmageddon?” there’d be no Sleeping Bag with Arms and Legs.

The unbridled mind of a child teaches me to throw open the doors of my boring, calculated, adult imagination. What if I began to answer questions no one was asking at my job, in my neighborhood, or in my own home? Is it possible that incorporating this “childish” habit into my everyday life just might make my world - or even THE World - a more creative, more interesting, more exciting, more satisfying, more…betterer place?

That’s a question you’ll have to ask for yourself.

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In the meantime, we've got a few questions for you and your kids that will help us finish Bill Weevil's story:

- How will Bill and his mom use the money rescue the monsters?

- Is the answer to all of Bill’s problems in Australia?

- Why did the Trash Truck Monster Girl trick Bill?

- Do the creatures grow into anything else since they’re both so young?

Send your answers to ethan@rocketmonsterstoryclub.com before midnight on Sunday, August 7th. You can write out your answers, or send a video of you and your kids talking through the story like Lewis and I did simply using the camera on my phone.

I can’t wait to see how the story ends!