DON’T SELL A KID SHORT
Children’s books do double duty: they are fanciful, fun, and absurd; but they also introduce tough subjects that kids are curious about, and they help to bring the still unfamiliar world into better focus.
This is as it should be: even at their most playful, children are savvier than they’re given credit for. They can hold fairy stories in one hand and reach for help through tough times with the other; they can handle being instructed on how we should treat one another, even while they’re imagining interactions between talking prospector’s pans, guffawing jungle creatures, and animate pencils and pens.
The children’s books in this feature deal with all aspects of children’s worlds, both the obviously fictional and the all-too-real. Our middle grade and young adult features deal with cancer and abandonment, but also steampunk and futuristic adventures; our picture books include information on how to be a good feminist, from toddlerhood up, and also stories in which gigantic sheep trip through cities, or drawing pencils vye for their owner’s attention. There’s something here for every wild, boundless, and growing young mind.