Daniel Pinkwater loves John Holbo. I’m so jealous. (If that’s really, truly Daniel Pinkwater commenting, then I am really, supremely mega-jealous.)

I was reading Chapter 5 of Finn Family Moomintroll tonight and wondering about great trial scenes in children’s books. The argument between the Hemulen (who is counsel for Thingumy and Bob) and Sniff (the prosecutor) is fantastically good, if brief. The whole thing is just one of the high points of the whole Moomin series. 2 other great courtroom scenes: the trial in The Magic Pudding, and (of course) the prosecution of the Knave of Hearts. Any other good ones? What is especially fun about the court of law in the context of kids’ books? In the Moomintrial, I really like how sort of lovably pompous and at the same time sympathetic the Hemulen is when he’s arguing that Thingumy and Bob deserve “the Contents” of their suitcase even if they belong to the Groke, because Thingumy and Bob believe the Contents to be the most beautiful thing in the world, while the Groke only thinks it is the most expensive thing.

The second volume of collected Moomin comic strips is coming out this month! You can pre-order it from Amazon. The first volume was a lot of fun.