I've been reduced to seeding books around the house, in what is either a Great Mom™ tactic ensuring a life of rich cultural opportunity, or a bummer attempt to control my children and what they read so they will be more like me. Possibly it is some combination? That seems likely.

It's not an easter egg hunt because no one is actually looking for anything. But! A person who is not looking for something, by stumbling across something wonderful left in her path, might find something anyway, right? Maybe?

I "accidentally" left this on the kitchen table.

And I "inadvertently" strewed (strew?) this near the toaster oven. 

This is sitting innocently on the coffee table, should anyone happen by.

And as a coup de grace, I left a printout of a story by Rachilde, translated from the medieval French, about a Plague Doctor (my sister's girlfriend has the French skilz) on the floor of Diana's room. Oops.

Do you have a history buff who actually trusts your opinion and will read what you recommend? Have this person try the M. T. Anderson.

Do you have a child who compulsively reads cookbooks and likes comics? (Bonus points for vegetarian cooks.) Dirt Candy is for this child.

Is your kid a) flattened by the variety of racial horrors of the past year, and wants to feel less alone? Or b) is a very ambitious reader who wants to hear a very intelligent and broken-hearted cri de coeur about America? (No, I don't know why I'm suddenly using French phrases.) If so, you must purchase Between the World and Me at once.

I can't quite imagine who should read the Rachilde story, other than Diana, but it's pretty crazy and amazing nonetheless.

Will my children read these works? (maybe)

Am I totally transparent? (probably)

Is there any hope? (always)