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Janet Malcolm, 1934-2021

 First, RIP, Janet Malcolm, one of my all-time favorite writers. You can re-read a Malcolm book several times and not get bored. It's a little bit shocking how many now-classic books she wrote. My favorites are: "Psychoanalysis," "The Journalist and the Murderer," "The Silent Woman," "In the Freud Archives," and "Iphigenia in Forest Hills."


I also loved Malcolm's short piece, "Thoughts on Autobiography from an Abandoned Autobiography": https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2010/03/25/thoughts-on-autobiography-from-an-abandoned/

....And, lastly, Malcolm's thoughts on email: "Pandora's Click," https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2007/09/27/pandoras-click/

OK, that aside, just an idea here about kids' books. "This Is Not My Hat," by Jon Klassen, won the Caldecott a few years ago. It's about a scheming fish. The little fish came upon a sleeping, giant fish, and admired the hat on that fish. So a theft occurred.

The little fish feels confident that he won't get caught. After all, the big fish will surely keep sleeping. And theft may seem problematic, but really, the hat belongs with its current owner. (Anyone with eyes and a sense of taste can appreciate that.) The little fish mentions to us that he *did* notify a crab of his transgression--he couldn't resist--but....the crab will keep a secret.

While the fish talks to us, we see a different story unfolding. The crab spills the beans. In a wordless final sequence, the big fish stalks his prey--and the little fish dies without a warning.

I love this book because, unlike so many picture books, this one doesn't offer a moral, and it doesn't offer a protagonist who is admirable. Also, there's a hint of James Marshall here; Marshall liked to write about transgressions, and you could tell a Marshall character was feeling insecure when he or she became *outwardly* very wordy and emphatic. (I'm thinking of Martha looking in a box. "I would never look in that box. Why would you suggest that? I'm not that kind of friend.....")

(Klassen has acknowledged his fondness for Marshall's work--on Twitter.)

Well, it's not news to praise Klassen's book: The world already loves this one. But here is a re-appreciation. Five stars.
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