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A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR OR MY FRIEND ALFRED by Judie Angell

A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR OR MY FRIEND ALFRED

By

Pub Date: April 1st, 1979
Publisher: Bradbury

Picture this: Your average, ordinary Monday school morning, the kind we all know and love."" Thus Angell begins, signaling that we're in for more of the breezy banal kidspeak we all know too well. Later conversations with friends and family sound tape-recorded, with every ""pass the salt"" left in. The story--told at awkward second hand by friend Rudy who frequently has not witnessed the events he reports--has to do with 12-year-old Alfred's concern about a promotional giveaway mug which adman Dad has brought home to little brother Doug. Alfred, already anti-commercial, tests the mug, finds lead in the glaze, and wants it withdrawn from the market. But Alfred's reluctant father can't get the company man to listen; the kids, being kids, can't get any of the consumer agencies to listen; and when they finally hook up with a new, youth-run organization, they find themselves presenting their case--on TV. ""Selling is selling, it's the same no matter what the product is. Right now your idea is the product,"" explains Francine, the group's president. With the TV coverage Dad loses his job, but is rehired--and defends his work to Alfred; an FDA man visits and explains why his agency was proceeding.slowly; and friend Gillian concludes that kids have clout after all. Despite the simplistic issue-orientation and cop-out end, this will probably be read for its very glibness.