- "If you lent your copy to someone and never got it back, buy another and stage a family read-in. Let your kids in on the secret that there is more to life than electronic health and safety and that real insects and spiders play games of survival. "
I adored Durrell as a child and just might take his advice.
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Simon Rodberg reviews three new children's books for the New York Times. They are:
- Malian's Song, by Marge Bruchac, illustrated by William Maughan ("This true story, about a 1759 attack north of Montreal, shows the other side of our multicultural history: a violent taking, not a joining.")
- Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship and Freedom, by Tim Tingle, illustrated by Jeanne Rorex Bridges. ("'In stories or in life, trouble comes,' Tingle writes; in literature for children, this is a lesson as old as the Grimms. But these realities cut deeper than any fantasy.")
- The Old African, by Julius Lester, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney ("depicts the brutality of the slave trade with stunning effect.")
