I'm almost finished Awakened by the Moon, that biography of Margaret Wise Brown. Wise Brown edited The World is Round, Gertrude Stein's first (and possibly only?) book for children. She also collected children's reactions to it. This is what a twelve-year-old girl from Long Island had to say:

This would be an interesting story if written in everyday language. It could, to my mind, be built up to be a very good kind of story, perhaps if an entirely different story were used."

That's kind of how I feel about Ulysses. I haven't seen a copy of The World is Round yet -- I've reserved one through inter-library loan -- but these people make it sound a lot better than that.

Comments

[babelbabe]

I am digging the MWB biography but have stalled briefly. However, since I read Terzo both Big Red Barn AND Goodnight Moon tonight for bedtime, I think I get points of some sort or another...to be applied to my adult reading? Who knows?

And I sorta feel that way about all of Stein's writing, frankly.

[Susan T.]

Gertrude Stein wrote a picture book? I had no idea. The kid reviewer sounds like she's channeling Gertrude, too, eh?