Rarest Kind of Best

Here’s a great essay from the Random House website Hazlitt – Life and Death in Children’s Books by Jowita Bydlowska. I like her point “what’s better than books to ruin a child’s innocence?”

I’m also more than a little smitten with the 18th century children’s book that would make your hair stand on end – Der Struwwelpeter. It’s particularly fascinating because children are much less horrified by it than their parents. (Generally. It’s still not for everyone, I hasten to add.)

Der Struwwelpeter (Photo credit: Wikipedia)