Idiots & Children

Idiots and Children is a hilarious collection of twenty-five stories based on award winning Diana Estill’s personal experiences. Themes cover the gamut – from vocations, retro decorations, cooking shows, and Friday the Thirteenth, to funky funerals, repairmen, travel tips, and space travel to mars.

Rising humorist Diana Estill has often been referred to as the next generation Erma Bombeck. Much like Bombeck, Estill has a proclivity for presenting different twists to everyday situations that are common to a wide spectrum of readers. Many baby boomers, for example, will relate to their stay-at-home mothers who didn’t know the first thing about cosmetics, as in “Cosmetically Confused.” Or the hideous harvest gold, avocado green, and burnt orange decor of the 1970s, as in “Haunted by Harvest Hues.” Obviously, Estill’s stories are not limited to those born immediately post-World War II. Young adults will definitely appreciate “Princess-in-Waiting,” where Estill compares her antiquated driving experience with her overconfident sixteen-year-old daughter who trashes her gift car in fifty-three days, as well as younger siblings who constantly get their hands into everything in “Life In Dad’s Laboratory.”

What stands out the most about Estill’s short narratives is her ability to tackle tenuous topics such as religion (“Separation of Church and Fate”), the male gender (“No More Neanderthals”), and Open Carry gun laws (“Legally Stupid”) – to name a few – by not just laughing at others, but balancing ridicule by always remembering to laugh at herself and her situations, too. Estill even connects with humanity by including a comical yet tender story of Ira, a loner in his seventies, who has a remarkable bond with the local park squirrels in “Ira, the Squirrel Man”. Coupled with her viewpoints, Estill’s consistent use of sarcasm, great punch lines, catchy (and often alliterated) story titles, and a small handful of photographs is the essential glue that keeps her tales light and fluid.

If you are looking for a book that will brighten your day, don’t look any further. Pick up a copy of Idiots and Children today. This reviewer certainly guarantees that it will keep you in stitches from beginning to end.