A peculiar thing

When I was young and ignorant

I thought the levels of the books I read 

determined my intelligence.

"No more picture books for me"

"I've grown too old for that teen garbage"

... I'm better than that

But it is not the 

    intricate plots

      polysyllabic words

        impecable diction

          that defines the pages 

its 

the story

the idea

the characters. 

       That manifest in your bones until they swell and are birthed in your heart. 

                                                           ***

        For perhaps, the adult writing that children's book knows that only children will understand the complexities of that particular universe without further explanation.