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Staff Pick
While revisiting kids’ books can be a lot of fun, reading Bruce Handy’s colorful commentary on beloved children’s classics is even more delightful. His insights are paired with fascinating details about the authors, and while he isn’t afraid to criticize some favorites (The Giving Tree, for one), his passion and enthusiasm are infectious. Recommended By Renee P., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
An irresistible, nostalgic, insightful — and totally original — ramble through classic children’s literature from Vanity Fair contributing editor (and father) Bruce Handy.
In 1690, the dour New England Primer, thought to be the first American children’s book, was published in Boston. Offering children gems of advice such as "Strive to learn" and "Be not a dunce," it was no fun at all. So how did we get from there to "Let the wild rumpus start"? And now that we’re living in a golden age of children’s literature, what can adults get out of reading Where the Wild Things Are and Goodnight Moon, or Charlotte’s Web and Little House on the Prairie?
In Wild Things, Bruce Handy revisits the classics of American childhood, from fairy tales to The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and explores the backstories of their creators, using context and biography to understand how some of the most insightful, creative, and witty authors and illustrators of their times created their often deeply personal masterpieces. Along the way, Handy learns what The Cat in the Hat says about anarchy and absentee parenting, which themes link The Runaway Bunny and Portnoy’s Complaint, and why Ramona Quimby is as true an American icon as Tom Sawyer or Jay Gatsby. It’s a profound, eye-opening experience to reencounter books that you once treasured after decades apart. A clear-eyed love letter to the greatest children’s books and authors, from Louisa May Alcott and L. Frank Baum to Eric Carle, Dr. Seuss, Mildred D. Taylor, and E.B. White, Wild Things will bring back fond memories for readers of all ages, along with a few surprises.
Review
"Highly engaging... The author demonstrates a deep love of children’s literature and a keen understanding of the ways in which reapproaching beloved texts can highlight the connections and differences between a child’s perception and adult reality. As well-researched as it is seamlessly composed, this book entertains as it educates." Kirkus (Starred Review)
Review
"A spirited, perceptive, and just outright funny account of reading childhood favorites through adult eyes... Handy’s breezy, friendly style lends the book a bright feeling, as of old friends discussing old friends, and this book will surely leave its readers with a new appreciation for childhood favorites." Publishers Weekly
Review
"From the moment I picked up Wild Things, I couldn’t put it down — I only wish the book were ten times longer. It was a joy to learn more about so many of my favorite masterpieces of children’s literature." Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project
Review
"A wonderfully entertaining tour of a dozen gems from Goodnight Moon to Charlotte’s Web. Full of humor and insight, Wild Things in its evocation of our young reading lives is also as poignant as some of the masterpieces it celebrates. I loved it." Ann Packer, author of The Dive from Clausen’s Pier
Review
"Brilliant, revelatory, and endlessly entertaining. I’ve read these books a thousand times, but only now do I finally understand them." Lev Grossman, author of the Magicians trilogy
About the Author
Bruce Handy is currently a contributing editor of Vanity Fair. A former writer and editor at Spy and Time, his articles, essays, reviews, and humor pieces have appeared in such publications as The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, New York magazine, Rolling Stone, Vogue, The Village Voice, and The New Yorker. Handy was nominated for an Emmy in 1993 as a member of Saturday Night Live’s writing staff. He won a GLAAD Award in 1998 for his "Yep I’m Gay" Time cover profile of Ellen DeGeneres. At Vanity Fair, he has written on topics and personalities as diverse as Mad Men, Amy Schumer, film composer John Barry, PeeWee Herman, Miley Cyrus, the J.T. Leroy hoax, Cinerama, and the history of flight attendants. A native of California and a graduate of Stanford University, Handy lives in Manhattan with his wife, novelist Helen Schulman, and their two children. Wild Things is his first book.
Bruce Handy on PowellsBooks.Blog
While I hesitate to say what art
should do, one thing it
often does is stir up that first great wonder, and that is a special purview of children’s books....
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