Nature Can Seem Cruel, But She Balances

When Other People First Became Aware Of The Cow, They Expressed Concern And Anxiety. They Suggested Strategies For Getting The Animal Out Of Molly's Parlor: Remedies And Doctors And Procedures, Some Mainstream And Some New Age. They Related Anecdotes Of Friends Who Had Removed Their Own Cows In One Way Or Another. But After A While They Had Exhausted Their Suggestions. Then They Usually Began To Pretend That The Cow Wasn't There, And They Preferred For Molly To Go Along With The Pretense.

The Great Subversive Works Of Children's Literature Suggest That There Are Other Views Of Human Life Besides Those Of The Shopping Mall And The Corporation. They Mock Current Assumptions And Express The Imaginative, Unconventional, Noncommercial View Of The World In Its Simplest And Purest Form. They Appeal To The Imaginative, Questioning, Rebellious Child Within All Of Us, Renew Our Instinctive Energy, And Act As A Force For Change. This Is Why Such Literature Is Worthy Of Our Attention And Will Endure Long After More Conventional Tales Have Been Forgotten.

Grosvenor And Burke Suggest That Continually, Though Silently, A School Building Tells Students Who They Are And How They Should Think About The World. It Can Help To Manufacture Rote Obedience Or Independent Activity; It Can Create High Self-confidence Or Low Self-esteem.

Attempts To Limit Female Mobility By Hampering Locomotion Are Ancient And Almost Universal. The Foot-binding Of Upper-class Chinese Girls And The Nigerian Custom Of Loading Women's Legs With Pounds Of Heavy Brass Wire Are Extreme Examples, But All Over The World Similar Stratagems Have Been Employed To Make Sure That Once You Have Caught A Woman She Cannot Run Away, And Even If She Stays Around She Cannot Keep Up With You. ... Literally As Well As Figuratively Modern Women's Shoes Are What Keeps Samantha From Running As Fast As Sammy.

Real Literature, Like Travel, Is Always A Surprise.