Barney in Paris and Lessons from Things, Christmas Journal 3 Summary and Analysis

Gopnik wrote in "Barney in Paris" that he and Martha were often asked why they left America shortly after the birth of their first child, to which they gave various high-minded or whimsical replies. The real reason, he confided, was to keep Luke away from the children's show, "Barney," which was dominated by a man in a cheap purple dinosaur suit singing doggerel in an adenoidal voice. To readers who would surmise that Barney stood for all American kiddie video culture, Gopnik said no, just Barney. During the family's first week in Paris, they were awakened one morning by an organ grinder underneath their apartment window to whom Gopnik tossed a ten-france piece; a promising beginning. They went to circuses and parks and Luke rode...