Another book I've just read is Lemony Snicket's The Bad Beginning, Book 1 of A Series of Unfortunate Events. Anyone ever read it? Or even hear of it? It's an easy read- took me one day. I liked it because it had that slightly twisted feel that all good children's literature ought to have. I was at the Wee Book Inn last week with my friend Erica, so that she could get the copy of The Amber Spyglass I had reserved (I have one already) and I decided to get something for myself. I picked up the Snicket book, not knowing anything about them, and read the back cover, and was immediately sold. It's a note from the author, and it says "Dear Reader, I'm sorry to say that the book you are holding in your hands is extremely unpleasant. It tells an unhappy tale about three very unlucky children . . . "
It reminds me of Lord Alexander Chung-sik Finkle-McGraw's belief that children should be exposed to dark, subversive material at an early age so that they can grow up right.
To illustrate this concept to the nanotech engineer John Hackworth, the Equity Lord sends him Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Raven (not to be confused with Poe's poem of the same name, also good) and encloses this note:
Mr. Hackworth,
I hope the above poem illuminates the ideas I only touched on during our meeting of Tuesday last, and that it may contribute to your paroemiological studies.
Coleridge wrote it in reaction to contemporary children's literature, which was didactic, much like the stuff they feed our children in the "best" schools. As you can see, his concept of a children's poem is refreshingly nihilistic . . .
Finkle-McGraw
(excerpted from one of my all-time favorite books, Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age)

So, what would you recommend along these lines?