Lmao somehow I did not know about this, I think I was mainly trying to combine like, boxcar children + bk kids club + Al Columbia

They've built us a prison and called it a society

Yes, and hence the post is a joke rather than a serious critical claim or assessment; rationalizing it is beside the point, which is "hey it's pretty funny this fussy little guy is the kid-reader's identification point"

It is weird it doesn’t happen more often when you think of it as “the time my funny grandpa had an adventure”. Kids love having a funny grandpa.

as a totally petty addendum i will say one of the first big reply chains was about Columbo and, the obvious fact that Columbo is not a YA novel protagonist aside, what the fuck do you mean Columbo doesn't want to do anything? his whole deal is constantly showing up just to Do Things!!!!!