Picture it: you're 10, you're excited, you're going upstate where it's
certainly going to rain excessively and get you soaked and freezing for
two nights and three days. What book do you pack in your chaotic
duffel? If you're Diana, you pack The Red Fairy Book.

Packing
this earns you The Diamond in the Window's respect and admiration (I thought to myself: that
means she's allowing for a whole bunch of different stories and different moods, there's
nothing really camping-scary in there, there is something cozily
reassuring in fairy-tale predictability). I may have been, as well, somewhat smug, "Well," I was more or less thinking to myself, "I've certainly raised a girl with a creative and refined mind."
But when you're actually
getting into the car with a dozen other 10-year-olds for the hours-long
drive up? What really wins your heart—and your attention—then? That's
right, an extra copy of the Pokemon manga book your friend has brought.

Because in reality, what is the likelihood that your choices will be ones your mother can feel smug about? Almost nil. Good information for the other 10-year-olds out there looking for the right book.