Questions without answers

Novelist and essayist Manguso (Liars) teams up with cartoonist Finck (How to Baby) for a slight if occasionally profound exploration of young children's curiosity. Manguso attests she was once put off by people who found their own children fascinating, calling them "people who had decided not to be interesting anymore." Surprised to later discover that her own son was "intellectually" compelling, she decided to "challenge the popular depiction of children as adorable idiots." Using social media, Manguso crowdsourced examples of strange questions people had been asked by their children, 140 of which are collected here, each accompanied by one of Finck's minimalist drawings. Sometimes the pairing is droll, as when the question "Did cavemen clean their caves?" is illustrated by a caveman holding a broom. Elsewhere, the illustrations are oddly literal--"How important are necks?" is depicted by a question mark aimed at a person's neck. The best entries demonstrate, as Manguso puts it, children's "ease with the abyss"--"Can a person die of sadness?" is accompanied by a dead body lying in a pool of tears--while a few questions like "Is there a spot in our house that no one has ever walked on?" tickle the mind with the feathery force of a zen koan. This has its moments. (Apr.)

Questioning the "popular depiction of children as adorable idiots." "What should you do on the last day of your life?" It's a question Socrates might have pondered. In reality, it's a question posed by a young child--one of the many earnest queries asked by preschoolers in this whimsical and sometimes profound collection. Manguso, the author of nine books, among them the novelsLiars andVery Cold People, included questions from her son that she wrote down in his early years. She also solicited entries from other parents on social media. "Before I started spending time around children," Manguso writes in a preface, "I thought that people who paid close attention to these simpletons were people who had decided not to be interesting anymore. I thought that people found their own children fascinating simply because they'd been biologically hypnotized into loving them. Once I learned what children are really like, I immediately wanted to create an artifact of their weird eloquence." Manguso divides these questions into a handful of categories; People, Animals, and Big Things are a few of them. The questions reflect the curiosity, thoughtfulness, and innocence of these "dizzyingly fast-learning engines of art and experiment": "What do clouds taste like?" "Did horses know they were in a war?" "How do you get the meat off the animal without hurting it?" Each question is paired with imaginative and playful drawings by Finck, aNew Yorker cartoonist. "When the baby is born, how do the parents know its name?" The accompanying drawing shows a mother cradling a tiny baby who is waving to her. A thought bubble above his head reads, "Hi. I'm George." This is a book that will appeal to anyone who has raised humans or is thinking of raising humans--or is a human. Deep--and often hilarious--thoughts from wee ones. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.