Most children's books teach things like family, friends, and sharing. Franz Kafka wrote strange tales of alienation, conflict, and the meaningful meaningless of existence. That Kafka's stories could be adapted for children seems, on the surface, to be an exercise in futility. And yet, as Matthue Roth's My First Kafka: Runaways, Rodents, and Bugs (One Piece Books, 2013) demonstrates, there's a sense of childlike wonder that permeates even the strangest of Kafka's parables. That's a tricky proposition to pull off effectively – 51BeIWcvHyL._SY300_especially for Roth, who is tasked with the unenviable job of transposing Kafka's prose into child-sized morsels. Fortunately for weird kids (and their weird parents) everywhere, Roth is more than up to the task, reconstructing three of Kafka's works into the sort of stories that would fit nicely alongside the Shel Silverstein's stranger works.

Read the full article here:
http://heebmagazine.com/kafka-4-kidz/45089