The Kingdom of Infinite Space

Some time ago the New York Times ran an article about early education that generated a good deal of attention.  The gist was that studies now indicate that the best way for children to learn the self-control and motivation necessary in later life is through long-form imaginative play.  Kids who engage heavily in this kind of activity early on achieve even better academic results throughout their school careers than those who undertake intensive pre-reading and pre-mathematics programs.

We were reminded of this when poring over a recent arrival, Zoom by Tim Wynne-Jones.  It’s a gorgeous book for 3- to 9-year-olds filled with evocative black-and-white illustrations by Eric Beddows that bring to mind Chris Van Allsburg’s mysterious pictures from Jumanji or The Polar Express.  Zoom is a cat in search of his adventurous Uncle Roy, and his exploits originally appeared in three separate volumes that have now been collected into one long story.

What puts this book on the level of such classics as Sendak’s In the Night Kitchen is its open-ended nature.  Zoom finds an ocean inside a house, but how the sea can fit behind a door is never fully explained.  He makes his way to the North Pole by climbing an ever-snowier set of stairs, but the frozen ship he finds there is empty.  Even when he meets his uncle outside an Egyptian tomb, further adventures remain as a tantalizing suggestion.  As in great music, there’s a satisfying resolution but also a feeling of suspension and an eagerness for the orchestra to play again.  For proof we have the example of our resident four-year-old, who had to have this 96-page book read to him four times within the 24 hours after it was brought home.

It seems to us that the very best works of children’s literature, and probably the greatest adult books, too, feature this quality.  On every page, and even after the book is closed, there’s an opportunity to exercise the imagination and take yourself far beyond where the author left you.  It’s great fun, and it’s why we read.  That the New York Times now says this will make our kids a success in life is just a bonus.