Originally published at The New Yorker. Read it in full there.
The best children’s stories, whether they take the form of books, television shows, movies, or something else, are also loved by adults. They are not just tolerated or long-suffered but truly loved, and beyond the vicarious joy we might feel while reading them in the presence of children. Some stories accomplish this by aiming for adults and merely wearing children’s clothing, so to speak. “The Simpsons,” for instance, with its jovial, animated exterior barely obscures a deeper layer of social satire and allusion. The same goes for the Muppets; likewise “The Little Prince” or “A Series of Unfortunate Events.”
Then there’s Sandra Boynton, a name that many parents of kids born since the late seventies will know well.