Our Favorite Writers Share Their Favorite Childhood Books
Amy Waldman, author of THE SUBMISSION
My husband brought home Benny’s Brigade (McSweeny’s) a couple of months ago because it featured a girl named Theo, and we have one, too. It’s since become a household obsession: an uncategorizable, beautifully illustrated tale of a tiny walrus named Benny who is trapped inside a nut, then rescued by Theo and her sister Elsie. They dispatch him to sea with a brigade of slugs (the book cover has great tactile slime). Our two-year-old twins have favorite pages; can recite lines; notice something new in the pictures every time we read. What a strange story, we thought the first time we read it. Now we can’t remember why we ever found it strange at all.