“Eeyore Alone”. Alone. Poor Eyeore. Of course, he would be alone on his birthday that no one has remembered. Did you remember? No of course not. I didn’t either. But the Guardian remembered. They wrote a whole article about him and how great a literary character Eeyore is (“archetypal” is what they said). You can… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Childrens Book
Connecting children with books!
Good news! You get to drop everything and read a children’s book! Why? It’s Children’s Book Week! What a great excuse (although did we really need one?) to share a favorite children’s book with someone you love–be they little, big, young, old. (I don’t think we ever grow out of them do we? Not the… Read more »
Happy birthday, Ludwig Bemelmans!
Happy (117th!) birthday to Madeline author and illustrator Ludwig Bemelmans!
Billy Collins on poetry, obscurity and not being difficult enough
“I have spoken a lot about wilful obscurity in poetry – where the poet is hiding behind language, using it as camouflage – and I don’t have much tolerance for that kind of poetry,” Billy Collins It’s why I love Billy Collins. In writing picture books you can be generous or self-indulgent. If you’re showing… Read more »
Following Clues with Jane Dyer
With many picture book projects, the author and illustrator never meet — or even communicate with each other. And that was how it was with THE HOUSE THAT’S YOUR HOME. I didn’t share any notes with Jane about what I’d had in mind as I wrote. Jane was sent the text and then it was… Read more »
The front door of a book
I learned early on, as a picture book writer, that the illustration is like the front door of the book. If the illustration isn’t right, then no one will even pick up the book (let alone read your text). Without the illustration, my text would not stand a chance. So you can imagine how grateful… Read more »
From a child’s mouth
I trust the idea that I get from a child. And never more than in this book because, one day on the corner of Amsterdam and 76th Street in New York City, I heard a little girl, riding her father’s shoulders, say: “A girl is Daughter And a boy is a Son.” And I knew… Read more »
Hope beyond the walls of the world
We’ve had The Polor Vortex and Juno, The Storm Of The Century Of The Entire History Of NYC EVER! (not). It’s been frigid and freezing in New York City–and it was just such a winter a couple of year’s ago that inspired my brand new book. (And I can hardly wait. It’s coming out tomorrow!)… Read more »
holy ground
“Pilgrims often journey to the ends of the earth in search of holy ground, only to find that they have never walked on anything else.” Scott Russell Sanders “We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first… Read more »
libraries forever
E B White wrote this wonderful letter to a child explaining why libraries are important. Isn’t that great? Here are 10 other writers on libraries… Starting with my very favorite: “People can lose their lives in libraries. They ought to be warned.” Saul Bellow “Without libraries we have no past and no future.” Ray Bradbury… Read more »