Can you tell me what this sentence means ,please
How different is our mean-spirited, picky insistence that every child get every last little scrap of “understanding” that can be dug out of a book.

I can understand it, but it's why it's written this way that confuses me.

(How different "is" ) Why is the linking verb put in the middle rather at the end of the sentence,if it's an exclamation,like "how beautiful you are "

Thanks for your help:D

Question

Can you tell me what this sentence means ,please
How different is our mean-spirited, picky insistence that every child get every last little scrap of “understanding” that can be dug out of a book.

I can understand it, but it's why it's written this way that confuses me.

(How different "is" )  Why is the linking verb put in the middle rather at the end of the sentence,if it's an exclamation,like "how beautiful you are "

Thanks for your help:D

Answer

Yes, it makes grammatical sense only as an exclamatory statement.  You can think of "how" as meaning "so".

Answer

Its a rhetorical question trying to persuade us in a rather poetical way ( arrangement of the words, metaphors) that we must ..let the kids alone :P . The language being used is figurative  and the author exaggerates  by characterising those who insiste to force children to overanalyse the meaning of what they read as " mean-spirited.