I’m honored to be a part of The Iowa Review‘s special section on children’s literature, and even more honored that the journal has chosen to feature my essay on-line, for free. Two and a half years ago, “A Manifesto for Children’s Literature; or, Reading Harold as a Teen-Ager” began as a blog post. It means
Since you’re reading this blog post, you may have already read one or more of Jeanne Birdsall’s Penderwicks books – the fourth of which, The Penderwicks in Spring, was published last month. In case you haven’t, here’s why you should. Jeanne Birdsall understands the emotional intelligence of children. She knows that they feel love, guilt,
Richard Thompson’s Cul de Sac is one of two comic-strip masterpieces of this century.1 Fortunately for the busy comics-reader, you can now read the entire work in The Complete Cul de Sac (2 volumes, just out from Andrews McMeel). Unfortunately for the medium (of comics! of Art!), the complete run of the Thompson’s daily strip is