Welcome listeners. This is Rusty Reno at First Things Offices. I'm sitting at the Editor's Desk, and this is the editor's desk podcast.

And today we have Elizabeth Corey, a frequent writer here at First Things, to talk about her marvelous essay about children's books.

T is for timeless.

Welcome, Elizabeth. Thank you. It's great to be here.

Why, what is the role of books for children? Oh my goodness, that's a great question. And, you know, there are lots of ways one could answer that.

I think in a certain sense, it's the first way they begin to develop a moral imagination.

And, you know, when they're little, you can read them board books. You can read them stuff that

really just is mostly pictures and doesn't have a lot of substance. But as, of course, any parent knows as they get older, you can read them stuff that really just is mostly pictures and doesn't have a lot of substance. But as of course, any parent knows as they get older, it makes a difference what you read

them. And so I think what I started to realize is that there were good children's books and then

there were not so good children's books. That was the thing that motivated the piece because I've had three kids now

and I've read with all three of them and my youngest got into this book club that I write about

in the essay. And it is just, it's got some really good things, but I'm starting to see the

ways in which contemporary culture wants to mold our

kids into certain roles and to take away aspects of the imagination that I think are really

present in a lot of traditional books. You talk about, I guess we'd call it two distortions,

maybe it's the word I would use, of the genre, the children's

book genre.

I guess one is epitomized by that wonderful title.

Baby loves aerospace engineering.

I mean, it's just so absurd to even say the title.

And I guess this is the notion of preparing them for careers. And then the second distortion is maybe epitomized with the title

A is for activist. And I was thinking about that and I thought, well, these are really books for parents and

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