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THE SUPERMARKET by Anne & Harlow Rockwell Rockwell

THE SUPERMARKET

By

Pub Date: Aug. 6th, 1979
Publisher: Macmillan

Something of a washout among the Rockwells' early concept books--in part, at least, because there's no concept of a supermarket evident. Except for the little-boy narrator's opening tribute to the supermarket's self-opening door--and perhaps his later reference to the number of items on display (""What if I bought them all? I'd have to be very rich""), this could be the account of any shopping expedition with Mother. There's no importuning to push the cart, for instance (though we once see that he does), or to unload it at the check-out (the word isn't even mentioned--nor is the moving belt, a source of constant fascination for kids); there's no dashing off down the aisles--or, visually, any depiction of the supermarket as a sort of maze. And though we see a stockboy stamping prices on some boxes, that intriguing operation is ignored; and so is the whole restocking process--none of the ubiquitous delivery men are in evidence. What we have instead are purchases--including the makings of a birthday cake--that are flatly recounted and mundanely illustrated in rather weak pastels. For youngsters, the supermarket is both an adventure and a crossroads of commerce--but not on this vapid visit.