Aww, I know that feeling—there have been a few children's books that I kind of regret not reading earlier, because I know it could have been that way, but reading them as an adult isn't the same. But this was still a good one!

mere primary evidence cannot displace the higher poetic truth of Stevenson's Tiny Alan.

Quite right! :D (I mean, a description by the authorities might not have been very accurate, right...?)