but to those who would say that Silverstein’s book is a moving, sentimental depic

tion of the unyielding love of a parent for a child, I’d say, Learn better parenting skills

I refuse to read it to my kids or my friends’ kids,” he wrote in an email. “I think that book has done more damage to fragile young psyches than any other kids’ book in the last 50 years. (O.K., maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but you get the idea.)”