“Now this spoon is a magic spoon,” says Henry. “Turn it around and use the handle, and it is a knife!” Holy shit. I never forgot this moment because it taught me that sometimes it doesn’t matter what you have. All that matters is what you’re trying to do—there’s always some way to do it. The Boxcar Children also helped me hold space in my mind for something other than the villains of the Bible and the racists of Black Like Me and the fruit balloon from James and the Giant Peach.
