SOURCE: "A Bleak, Sad World," in The New York Times Book Review, May 10, 1953, p. 5.

Peden is an American writer, critic, and educator. In this review of Children Are Bored on Sunday, he finds the stories beautiful, sad, and complex.

To paraphrase a comment once made by James Branch Cabell, Jean Stafford seems to have dedicated herself to writing beautifully about unbeautiful matters. The smell of the sickroom hovers like an incubus over these sad and unforgettable short stories [in Children Are Bored on Sunday]. Maladies or misfortunes of one sort or other cause Miss Stafford's characters to retreat from the world of customary urges and responses into a never-never land of dreams and unfulfilled desires, a land where sickness is king and despair his consort. Within its boundaries, Miss Stafford writes with certainty, understanding and beauty. Like her three novels, these stories, within their impeccable framework, are meaningful...