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 Do you know where your children are? 

   By Brittany Muller
   IV Leader Staff, April 12, 2007

    As the temperature rises and the sun sets later into the evening, reading becomes a relaxing activity to enjoy while experiencing warm Spring nights. Before summer approaches, it might be a good idea to line up a bunch of beach reads now. Beach reads are always simple, slightly humorous, and dangerously engaging. Perhaps beach reads are a perfect cure to idle summer nights.
    After recently reading “Little Children” by Tom Perrotta, I found myself noticing parks, families, and children differently. Have you ever walked in your neighborhood, looked at the houses, and wondered if the people inside them were happy? Classic suburbia has always baffled me.
    What are the secrets? Who is hiding what? “Little Children” is a novel about a bunch of small families that live in a town, forced to interact with each other. What makes this story interesting is a recently released convicted child molester, a selfish affair, and role reversals of the typical nuclear family. Perhaps the plot of the novel could easily be recreated as a Lifetime special, but the writing is descriptive, unique, and incredibly witty.
    I am usually skeptical at the critic’s reviews on the cover of novels, but The New York Times Book Review was correct when it claimed “Little Children” to be “a wicked joy…bracingly tender…and ruefully funny.” “Little Children” will make the reader wonder about its own neighborhood. The mothers at the parks may have secrets as well and the fathers in their offices may be more interesting than expected.
    Enlightening and well written, “Little Children” is a fun and entertaining novel about classic suburbia.

 

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