Ilan Stavans on Jewish Children’s Literature

This week we talk with Ilan Stavans, Lewis-Sebring Professor of Humanities, Latin American, and Latino Culture at Amherst College, publisher of Restless Books, and host of the NPR podcast “In Contrast.” A busy man, we caught up with him to chat about his upcoming three-part series of talks taking place at the Yiddish Book Center May 1, 8, and 15: “People of the Picture Book: The History of Jewish Children’s Literature.” In a lively exchange, we discuss everything from the Haggadah and the Book of Esther to the ways in which psychoanalysis and the comic-strip industry in the twentieth century informed Jewish children’s book classics such as Curious George, Where the Wild Things Are, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.