For parents who spent their 20s mooning over “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius” and intend for their children to read “What Is the What” as soon as they’re globally-sensitive teenagers, there is now an interim means — a baby step? — into Dave Eggers’s literary world.

This month marks the debut of McMullens, a children’s book imprint from Mr. Eggers’s publishing house, McSweeney’s. The project really belongs to the McSweeney’s art director and editor, Brian McMullen, who has two sons under 4. Like many new parents, he found that the experience of having children made him want to write about it — or at least edit other people’s writing about it.

“We need to engage children in wanting to learn, wanting to solve problems,” she said. “One way we can interest them is through literature.”

That’s not such a groundbreaking statement when talking about a language arts class, but Assad was specifically referring to something completely different – a mathematics class. She, along with APSU assistant professor of education Dr. Lauren Wells, wants to use children’s literature to boost elementary school students’ science and mathematics comprehension skills, and a new $138,202 grant is helping them do just that.

I’m not a huge fan of this because I am anti-math, but I suppoooose that’s important too. And this is an intriguing idea from a writerly standpoint.

Also, come to think of it, isn’t Magic School Bus largely about problem-solving?

“In summary: he would have been an expert in the field of fisheries, but [Ugandan man] Oscar Katumwa felt he could be of better use to his society if he used his creativity to fight some of the evils like child sacrifice, writes Dennis D. Muhumuza.”

From the middle:

Research conducted in over 200 schools in Jinja and Mukono revealed that over 80 per cent of the pupils interviewed believed child sacrifice, and not hard work, is the secret to riches. “It’s alarming that children have been made to believe that the sacrifice of children brings wealth so we use the story of little Viola to change that mindset,” says Katumwa. “The book exposes the harm that child sacrifice causes and contains key facts about child sacrifice and questions to aid recollection and strengthen the child’s understanding of the story. During the reading sessions, we engage children in a discussion that stimulates critical thinking in them. Six schools in Jinja have benefited from this project, and 36 schools more are being targeted before the program is made national.”