Everyone is saying they want kids to be kids, but after reading Hapworth I identified so much with Seymour when he was seven from the time when I was seven. Also, I was ahead of Boo-Boo in literacy. So aside from writing style, I don't think his portrayal of children is that unrealistic. Children are usually not credited with the competence they deserve. I remember in third grade thinking to myself. "I feel completely conscious in my mind. I am not a clueless and unreflective little being as eight year olds are usually thought of as." In not so many words. Every year I'd check myself and when the third graders started to look very young, I remembered that I thought when I was eight. Don't sell children short, they're smarter than you are. -MW