In Praise of Odd Children's Books    • by Jill Rothstein
When I was in fifth grade, my mom read me a chapter a night of a
strange and wonderful children's book by Richard Kennedy called
Amy's Eyes. It had been a few years since the last time we
shared nighttime reading, and I wondered if maybe I was too old
for that kind of thing. I was quickly won over by this book
which was more complex and seemingly adult.      It was
intricate and intriguing, made us both cry, and the switchback
plot twists gave us something really interesting to talk about
together. We loved it. It's only now when I try to describe it
to parents in the children's room that I realize quite how odd
the plot sounds. It's not unusual for a story to involve dolls
coming to life, but it's not often you find living rags obsessed
with biblical numerology.      I've apparently kept a soft spot
for the kind of children's fiction that is a little eyebrow-
raising—maybe more intense or more philosophically bent or
surreallist than you expect to