It all began, I suppose, with Edward the Emu.

Written by Sheena Knowles and illustrated by Rod Clement, this was the first kids’ book that I found actually enjoyable to read aloud to my firstborn son. Its protagonist, dramatic arc and pleasing rhythm set it apart from tales of the Where’s My Cow? variety.⁴ Edward was the first of many fictional characters to join our household. Blessed with an otherwise perfect angel who was disinclined to sleep for longer than 45 minutes, and with no idea what to do with all his ever-increasing stretches of wakefulness, I turned to stories. If I was doing nothing else right, and I often felt I wasn’t, I could at least crack open a book, secure in the knowledge that I was laying the foundations for early literacy as I yawned into my lukewarm cup of instant decaf.