I haven't read this one, but the "1,001" children probably refers to a
shared favorite book of the two authors, _The Arabian NIghts_.  (See
Rushdie's _Haroun & the Sea of Stories_, often dismissed as a children's
tale, but it's also a metafictional defense of art that I find both valuable
and teachable--I've paired it with _Huck_ quite effectively.)

Gregg