Brain Pickings on LOVE and So Much More

This weekend I read a post about Love that knocked me out. It was on a taste-maker site called Brain Pickings (you can read the post here), the brainchild of Maria Popova. She is wonderfully insightful about LOVE, but I went on to read so many other posts, and I’m blown away, and at the same time I’m ashamed that I’m just now learning about her. Talk about behind the curve. Anyway, I highly recommend following her on all social media channels and signing up for her newsletter. She shuns traditional advertising and relies on donations, and after you read a few of her posts you’ll want to donate. Trust me. She’s brilliant. And soulful. And she can really write!

This is the bit that really hit home for me regarding children’s books: ” . . . a testament to my long-held conviction that great “children’s” books are simply great books, imaginative and intelligible to young readers, replete with soulful wisdom that spills into what we grownups call philosophy.”

Yes. That’s so right on. I’ve been reading like a madman to my four-year-old daughter, and every once in a while I finish a children’s book that gives me the same profound feeling I get from the best “adult” books. And the feeling doesn’t come any more or less than it does when I’m reading for myself. I mean, have you read JULIAN IS A MERMAID? My daughter saw me choke up at the end of that one. Have you read WHERE ARE YOU GOING, BABY LINCOLN? Just a wonderful, wonderful story. I bet you’ve read CHARLOTTE’S WEB. I read it with my daughter a few months ago. It was the first time for both of us. And it was beautiful. It led to a great discussion. She still references it here and there. Or what about EACH KINDNESS? That’s one of my all-time favorite books, regardless of age level or genre.

Thank you Maria Popova for treating children’s literature like literature.