"Trouble" & Books about Books

Not too long ago, the scalawag Roger Sutton, he of the highly esteemed HORN BOOK Magazine, invited me to write an essay. The topic?

TROUBLE.



Why would he ask me, I wondered? I've never, ever, ever, been in trouble, sort of.

So I wrote the essay anyway. My topic? "Classic Trouble."

Without giving too much away, I discussed how, when Son was small, I'd read to him every night. His choice. But as he got older and wilier, he started picking books not by their content, but length. Anything to stay u...