WHY YOU SHOULD READ CHILDREN'S BOOKS, EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE SO OLD AND WISE

An acclaimed children’s book author calls on adult readers to hold fast to childish things.

All too aware that kid lit is routinely dismissed (Martin Amis once said in an interview that he’d consider writing a children’s book only if he had a “serious brain injury”), Rundell has penned a rousing, essay-length defense of children’s fiction. While many explorations of the topic focus on how these titles benefit young people, however, this one argues that it’s just as crucial that adults read them, too. She offers a brief history of children’s literature, naming the mid-19th century as its golden age—a time when “children’s fiction began to take the actual desires of children into account.” Though kid lit, especially the didactic fare written centuries ago, has often set out to teach concrete lessons, Rundell wants grown-ups to emerge with a sense of imagination, of play, but also with a keen realization of what it feels like to be vulnerable; she perceptively notes that kid lit is aimed at members of society devoid of political power. Above all, kid lit offers readers hope and joy. The author blends a scholar’s deep knowledge with the ardor of a reader still in love with young people’s literature. Although she writes with great affection for her subject, she never romanticizes children’s books or childhood itself; she’s well aware that kids are capable of selfishness and cruelty—and that the best literature recognizes young people’s darker impulses. Nor is she a literary purist. In a section on fairy tales, she muses on what a new version of “Cinderella” might look like, perhaps one in which the title character, literally or figuratively, consumes her own fairy godmother. Rundell closes by not only acknowledging that there are many who would shame adults for revisiting these books, but also by urging her readers to ignore the naysayers. “Refuse unflinchingly to be embarrassed, and in exchange you get the second star to the right, and straight on till morning.” Readers would do well to follow suit.

A passionate, persuasive, and perceptive case for embracing children’s fiction—at any age.