Children of the Book: A Memoir of Reading Together

Translator Kurshan (If All the Seas Were Ink) reflects in this moving personal history on reading stories with her children. As an observant Jew, Kurshan and her family hear the Torah read in full on an annual cycle, and the bulk of her account masterfully links the books she reads with her children to the themes of the Torah. For instance, she connects the six-day creation story in Genesis to The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s six days of constant consumption followed by a day of rest. Elsewhere, Fern’s intervention to rescue Wilbur in Charlotte’s Web is compared to the retrieval of the baby Moses from the Nile; both were newborns destined for death, Kurshan notes. The author movingly details how reading made parenting easier (she went well beyond the typical book at bedtime, reading to her children during walks or in waiting rooms), and the parallels she draws are delightfully unexpected. The result is a striking literary survey “about taking our children as far as we can until we recognize that the time has come for us to let go, and for them to move ahead—­and read onward—­independently.” It’s a stunning testament to the power of the written word. Agent: Deborah Harris, Deborah Harris Agency. (Aug.)