The Children’s Book

God answers our prayers in ways that advance the work of Jesus in the world.

One night, Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief.

His mother called him, “Wild thing!”

Max snapped back, “I’ll eat you up!”

The result: He was sent to bed without supper.

That is the beginning of the classic children’s book, Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak. Author Katherine Rundell says that such books are written “for those to whom the world is new and strange.”

A child would not question the trip that Max makes to the land of the Wild Things, where he discovers a collection of creatures that are fantastic and sometimes fierce. Max becomes king of the Wild Things and promises to create a kingdom where everyone is happy.

But then he discovers that it is not easy being king.

In the London Review of Books, Rundell says that children’s books are “for those who are without economic power.” They are vulnerable, without jobs or money. The book Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott, begins with the line,...