I’m very lucky to write for children, because I don’t have to deal with popular culture. I can just deal with core fundamental issues: jealousy, love, hatred, sadness, joy, wanting to drive a bus. The fundamental core emotional things. And just asking questions like, ‘How do you know when you’re in control? What is a friend? What are relationships between people?’ These are all things that I haven’t figured out yet. I’m very lucky in that I don’t understand the world yet. If I understood the world, it would be harder for me to write these books.
Sometimes a child just needs a picture book reading session. And the presence of the books on the shelves offers that connection for children who are changing fast: just a few years ago, hearing “Little Pea” read aloud could rescue a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, and now — well, really, it still can. And maybe the sight of it will bring a smile to a sulky teenage face at some point.
KJ Dell’Antonia in this NYTimes parenting blog.
’This is old-fashioned stuff, but it is not just nostalgic,’” Hutton said. “’For a small child, any interaction with a person reading a book is so good for a child’s cognitive, language, fine motor skills and emotional well-being.’
Dr. John Hutton, doctor turned bookseller, in this article by John Faherty at Cinncinnati.com.
…If you think of your favourite story as a child, it is likely to be something that you still admire as an adult. Good kids’ stories somehow transcend across ages
James Baker, artistic director of the theater production of The Incredible Book Eating Boy, from this article.
A lot of the business people and creative people that I’m fascinated by all have something in common, which is a lot of failure—a lot of dramatic failure—and a lot of rejection. All of us face conflict in our life and obviously no one just gives you anything—that might create its own problems. I don’t know about that. But you get to a point where you’re like, okay, I can be bitter and just stop or I can keep going because I really don’t have a choice. The key thing in all of that is that most of us have people in our lives who keep us afloat. Part of what kept me determined was not some amazing agent who said ‘you can do that’—because I really didn’t have that—but a family and a creative community of six or seven people who had read the pilot of Mad Men. My wife, in particular, was like, ‘This is good. You know it’s good. Don’t give up on it.’ “Or,” he continues, “‘You’re good but people haven’t found out yet.’ There is a string of failures that typify success. The weirdest thing is it’s kind of shameful to be rejected a lot, and a lot of people become dominated by that. It’s so embarrassing. You feel delusional.
Matthew Weiner, Mad Men creator, in this Fast Company article.
Everything you look at can become a fairy tale and you can get a story from everything you touch.
Hans Christian Andersen (via chelseyphilpot)
(via schoollibraryjournal)
Incomplete understanding may be useful as the unknown, the puzzling, and the mysterious stir the imagination and inspire exploration.
Adore the person and the sentiment: Miranda July photographed by Boudist, found here.
Sometimes not having any idea where we’re going works out better than we could possibly have imagined.
I think that whenever you can add a music element or a film element, or an interactive game, or audience participation, that’s always a lot of fun. I think that it’s nice when there’s a social element, so that people aren’t just there to hear from you, they’re also there to hear from each other, so it’s not just like they can be home watching you on Livestream. They’re in a community with like-minded people, and that’s a really valuable thing that you’re offering as well as your own work.
Rachel Fershleiser on book events, talking to Togather.
