It may sometimes seem (sometimes) that life is an endless slog through a morass of hypocrisy and cynicism. Which—OK, maybe it is. But we can all work and try for it to be otherwise, plus there is the issue of: If that is a big part of what life is, what can you give a kid to read that will help them to rise above it? Or at least, convince them that life is bigger than the petty television politics they may see around them?

Well first of all, the truth is that almost anything a kid reads is going to be larger than what they see on TV, for instance. But I can tell you, that what worked for Chestnut lately, was this:

This book moved my girl. Which is, admittedly, not such a difficult thing to do. But she is still grappling with the ideas and geographies and questions it brings up long after reading it for the first time. Which is, right now, an extremely helpful antidote.