Salon Magazine | Mothers Who Think archive: Features

Making the list
Your kids might not admit it, but there's a lot to be said for a present whose batteries don't run out and that you can take anywhere
(12/08/98)

Things are not quite what they seem
Themes of transformation populate three weirdly hypnotic children's books in which a little girl grows into a green monster and a baby bug becomes a cheese doodle
(11/16/98)

Strange brew
Love and art are the twin redeemers for the hipster heroes and heroines of Francesca Lia Block's young adult novels
(10/13/98)

Wild Things
Finding your inner ape: The books in Peter Dickinson's children's adventure series "The Kin" not only look at what life was like for the first humans -- they also explore what makes us human
(08/18/98)

Beach babble on
A selection of books immerses kids in a wetter, wavier world
(07/14/98)

A kinder, gentler cowboy
A new coming-of-age western shows that a man can do what a man's gotta do and still be a vegetarian
(06/04/98)

Raging hormones
Honest, respectful books that tell kids what they really want to know about sex
(05/13/98)

The water lilies look splotchy up close
The artist is the hero in these sensuous children's books
(04/07/98)

Love and justice
Two teenage novels
(02/24/98)

See you later, lunar crater
In kids' books, the time for rhyme is prime
(01/12/98)