A stocking filler for the little literate ones
Christmas looming and you still haven't found the ideal present for little literate Johnny or Jane? How about a book of fairy tales? They always go down a treat, especially when read late at night by the proud parents. 
Eager as always to help, Rainy Day suggests There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby: Scary Fairy Tales by Liudmila Petrushevskaia.
The wee ones will love the grief and madness that fill Petrushevskaia's stories and they'll soon be adding their tiny voices to the chorus of critics who are hailing her as the successor to Gogol and Poe. Not convinced? Why not read Revenge before rushing out to buy a copy of the book. "Meanwhile, Raya was planning the girl's murder. More and more often, as Zina carried the child through the apartment, she would notice a canister on the kitchen floor filled with what was supposed to look like water, or a steaming kettle left precariously balanced on a stool — but still she didn't suspect anything."
Malice, hauntings, mysterious ailments, symbolism, supernatural happenings, weirdness... Petrushevskaya does it all, and then some. The Brothers Grimm would be proud of her.
