In "The Books I Never Missed," she discusses discovering children's literature for the first time as an adult. She explains, that as a child in an Italian-American neighborhood, she was never read to as a child. But, reading children's books now, as an adult, Ms. Kenet has found:
- "What could be viewed as neglect has turned into a blessing--even though it took me 40 years to recognize that. Discovering children's books that I never experienced as a child opened doors of unexpected joy. By experience I mean more than reading the words on a page. Good Night Moon's reassuring verses and the coos of my infant daughter soothed my jangled post-partum nerves. My fingers moved across Pat the Puppy's fleecy fur and Daddy's scratchy beard -- as if I were reading Braille. I grooved to the irresistible rhythm of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish with my two-year old son. I learned that a good children's book is like a poem -- concise, unsentimental, affecting. That children's books fail when they underestimate a child's lightning quick judgment for boring or a stupid ending, something that even discriminating adult readers often take longer to recognize. "
Also in this month's Bookslut, another great review column from Colleen Mondor. This month she discusses new takes on the classics.
