Book Read Free

Wild Things!

Page 24

by Betsy Bird


  Green: “So you’ve. . . just like we are”: WallBuilders Live!

  “You can go on skates. . . Please!”: Seuss, 10–11.

  “Children by dint. . . ways than one”: Maguire, 68.

  “My good friend Dr. Seuss. . . Richard M. Nixon” and “I said GO. . . Richard WENT”: Buchwald.

  “anyone anywhere. . . social disadvantage”: Lurie, 145.

  “the child as God”: Ibid., 151.

  “probably the most. . . of our time”: Lanes, Art, 87.

  “Where McCloskey. . . children’s literature”: Schmidt, 15–16.

  “worst [kind of] desertion. . . a child” and “It is not a book. . . at twilight”: Quoted in Lanes, Art, 104.

  “[Ruth] turned me into. . . was like our child”: Quoted in Brown, 19.

  “most distinguished American picture book for children”: American Library Association.

  “It was like a. . . couldn’t care less”: Sendak, Moss-Coane.

  the book would likely scare only a “neurotic” child or adult: Nordstrom, 167.

  “horrific descriptions of evildoers” and “bizarre and often. . . child hero”: Behr, 185.

  “The kinds of elaborate. . . triumphant results”: Talbot, 95.

  “The essence of. . . triumph over adults”: Ibid., 98.

  “If you would truly teach. . . worse than oneself!”: Lanes, Looking Glass, 127.

  “Shel Silverstein. . . books for kids”: Kinney, 18.

  “Whatsoever. . . to Capri!”: Raskin, 62.

  “they realized. . . necessarily true”: Quoted in Rogak, 52.

  “They think the kids. . . fairy tales”: Silverstein, Terkel.

  “He’s an adult. . . being that honest”: Quoted in Kennedy.

  “[my books] are. . . everything by instinct”: Quoted in Lanes, Looking Glass, 127.

  “Americans cannot accept. . . wasn’t acceptable”: Quoted in Kennedy.

  “satire of evil. . . purview of Hoffmann”: Bader, 548.

  “the orneriest. . . lack of condescension”: Lanes, Looking Glass, 127.

  “MAD was the first. . . kind of laugh”: Jones, 275.

  “wising up. . . end of childhood”: Spiegelman and Mouly, 13–14.

  “I think my pals. . . dangerously good”: Sciesczka, interview.

  “Recently, MAD . . . almost everything” and “When I pitched. . . MAD would do’”: Michael Rex.

  “Early on, MAD tagged advertising as fake”: Quoted in Marcus, Funny, 195.

  “Who will. . . the wheat?”: Scieszka and Smith, 2.

  “I am a great admirer. . . they should read” and “If memory serves. . . changed a thing”: Smith.

  “The great mix. . . if. . . if?”: Scieszka, interview.

  “I was a teenager. . . beer-stained sofa”: Adam Rex.

  “the willfully amoral ending”: Kirkus.

  “big, dark, scary wood”: Bee, 2.

  “I pass along. . . subversive leaflet”: Benzel.

  “In general. . . children this way”: Ruzzier.

  “We are squeamish. . . turn that into art”: Sendak, Setoodeh.

  “infantilizing” and “shoulds. . . in art”: Quoted in Leef.

  “children’s book carnage”: Murphy.

  “Sweeney Todd for the sandbox set”: McMahon.

  “I don’t think. . . dangerous life can be”: Murphy.

  “I think the current. . . sense of humor?”: Furness, interview.

  “I am working. . . dies laughing”: Quoted in Neumeyer, 167.

  “Children’s stories. . . cute, either”: Dunbar.

  “I think we are more. . . Mrs. McGregor?”: Gravett.

  “I think children. . . find humor in them”: LaReau.

  “It’s ready-made. . . as kids on PBS?”: Magoon.

  “It is, to be sure. . . cause your cats to cry”: Staake.

  “dire and ridiculous”: Quoted in Marcus, Funny, 95.

  “What’s so perfect. . . they still mortify me”: Ibid., 92.

  children’s stories. . . their lives are: Jarrell.

  “I’ve received letters. . . responses than that”: Staake.

  Behind-the-Scenes Interlude: Scandalous Mysteries and Mysterious Scandals

  “When the HP wagon. . . was exactly new” and “Writers have always. . . shared heritage”: Pratchett.

  “Writing the book. . . off it for good”: Glovach.

  “I remember Charlotte. . . And she did”: Quoted in Zolotow.

  “I’d read The Pigman . . . something that good”: Kerr.

  “contains 75 . . . word for word”: Quoted in Watson, 11.

  “Almost everything we admire. . . writer to the end”: Holtz, 380.

  “perhaps Laura. . . writing better”: Miller, 239.

  “careful to maintain. . . mother’s work”: Ibid., 213.

  “In an old. . . straight lines”: Bemelmans, 5

  “In the middle. . . not right!”: Ibid., 21.

  “the toys and. . . from Papa”: Ibid., 36.

  GLBT and Literature for Youth: How Far We’ve Come

  “Sometimes you have. . . tell the truth”: Fitzhugh, 276.

  “Well, that I’m gay”: Quoted in Cohen.

  “I think it telling. . . non-heterosexual writers”: Nel.

  “perfect in its kind”: Quoted in Ellman, 299.

  “the single most. . . twentieth century”: Marcus, xvii.

  “Earlier this month. . . is very pleasant”: Quoted in Natov and DeLuca, 31.

  “With her at the time. . . no survivors”: Anderson.

  “There was a time. . . love me any more”: Quoted in Marcus, 211.

  “Why don’t you . . . off my hand?”: Ibid., 214.

  “The Lesbian Herstory. . . of a friend’s name”: Horning, interview.

  “socially below him”: Wolf, 4.

  “quintessential baby butch”: Horning, “On Spies,” 51.

  “The thing that shocked. . . regularly for my brothers”: Ibid., 49–50.

  “essentially trousers, vests, and boots”: Wolf, 21.

  “Her parents’ response. . . tell the truth’”: Horning, “On Spies,” 51.

  “All those years. . . tools for survival”: Ibid., 51–52.

  “They were firm pillars. . . never ever used”: Quoted in Rix.

  “For some the number. . . three hundred”: Kaiser, 283.

  “literally existed. . . at a distance”: Shannon, Lobel, 11.

  “In the movie. . . Depardieu”: Bram.

  “One of my sources. . . in the 1970s?”: Shannon, interview.

  “I do not really need. . . friends, spouses, or lovers”: Bram, 76–77.

  “When he learned. . . creative powers”: Marshall, “Lobel,” 326.

  “Now that he is gone. . . in greater depth”: Ibid., 327.

  “At lunch with Toby. . . delicious revenge”: Hayes, 358.

  “James, Arnold, and Maurice. . . and eighties”: Shannon, interview.

  “a long line of masters. . . James Marshall”: Sendak, “Marshall,” 1.

  “I was sitting. . . amused by this”: Marshall, Silvey.

  “Child readers understand. . . these gay books” and “looks amazingly. . . clone”: Bronski.

  “James the perfect friend. . . perfect artist”: Sendak, “Marshall,” 1.

  “I’d wanted to use. . . assembling our volume”: Nel.

  “There have several. . . old gender norms”: Ewert.

  “One of the first. . . in the first place” and “After I came out. . . good about it”: Quoted in Trumble.

  “I told. . . two children,” and “I couldn’t. . . the books,” and “It was. . . books existed”: Wittlinger.

  “A boy doll. . . Mo-tors’”: Gould, 18.

  “The book X . . . adults-in-charge!” and “I wanted to write. . . hadn’t been written”: Ewert.

  “We’ve needed the twenty. . . groundbreaking wake”: Ibid.

  “It was never my intent. . . in that direction”: Peters.

  “Peters
isn’t putting. . . range of reactions”: Welch.

  “incredibly insightful”: Basye.

  “It’s true that being trans. . . dignity and humor”: Boylan, September 2010 interview.

  “Recently, when a boy. . . I thought” and “Children — especially. . . what we all do”: Ibid.

  “Even at the time. . . jacket flap”: Shannon, interview.

  “I know that I wouldn’t be here tonight without you”: Selznick, 12.

  “I’ll be blacklisted. . . dry up fast” and “I was out. . . impact my family”: Peters.

  “We felt that there was. . . age-appropriate way”: Richardson and Parnell.

  “For my daughter. . . baby girl penguin”: Wind.

  “discipline up to. . . of employment”: School Library Journal.

  “My son read. . . into a penguin”: Lockette.

  “I just didn’t think it was anybody’s business”: Quoted in Cohen.

  “All I wanted. . . never knew”: Ibid.

  Banning on Their Minds

  “When I was growing up. . . end happily”: Garden, Smith.

  “The body of adolescent. . . long time”: Chelton, 30.

  “I just. . . and always”: Williams, 19.

  wrote that the rabbits’ . . . for brainwashing: Time.

  no less than. . . desegregation: Sims, 237.

  Alabama State Senator. . . should be burned: Time.

  “I was completely unaware. . . understand it perfectly”: Ibid.

  “He said that the reason. . . than anything else”: Rapp.

  “Intellectual freedom. . . of information” and “ALA actively. . . library profession”: American Library Association.

  “The naked hero. . . masturbatory fantasy”: Quoted in Lanes, Art, 185.

  “disgraceful and appalling”: Quoted in Sova, 184.

  “could lay. . . of pornography”: Quoted in Becker, 52.

  staff member. . . course of action: Jackson.

  “inappropriate”: ACLU.

  “I’ll be damned if I’ll go to dancing school”: Fitzhugh, 83.

  “mild curse” and “the anarchist. . . can think of”: Zindel, 5.

  “told of the day. . . on the scrotum”: Patron, 1.

  “With One Word. . . Uproar” and “The inclusion of the word. . . in children’s books”: Bosman, “One Word.”

  “The most moral book I have written” and “What is most incomprehensible. . . that he swears” and “The most poignant. . . loved your book anyway’”: Naylor.

  “to get Terabithia . . . school library”: Quoted in West, 5.

  “I have a feeling. . . my theory is wrong”: Ibid.

  “Do you blog with it?” “Can it tweet?” “It’s a book,” and “It’s a book, jackass!”: Smith.

  “Of all my books. . . visible of my books”: Quoted in West.

  “Bah, patriotism. . . enough of it”: Collier, 149.

  According to a School . . . one school curriculum: Staino.

  “Turkey is a largely. . . told to children”: Ibid.

  “The publication. . . American publishers”: Quoted in Marcus, Minders, 193.

  “It takes great. . . Two Reds” and “Or to publish one”: Ibid.

  “tapeworms. . . consuming me”: Anonymous, 169.

  “She saw herself. . . pulled from shelves”: Hopkins.

  who insists that. . . young adult audience: Sutton, “Judy Blume,” 26.

  “Forever was passed. . . one by one”: red.

  “The clandestine copy. . . a defining moment”: Larsen.

  “Ah, fourth grade. . . reading class”: Kelly.

  “One of my friends. . . book on our own” and “I think that Judy. . . work and last forever”: Marquetta.

  “I believe that. . . considered dangerous”: Blume.

  “In presenting this award. . . finds a first love”: Young Adult Library Services Association.

  “No one uses. . . with the equipment”: Quoted in Barry.

  “When I heard. . . to my gratification”: Guardian.

  “because they think. . . someone else”: Quoted in Bald, 86.

  “with gross, degrading. . . vastly more numerous”: Bader, 538.

  “amusing undoubtedly to. . . being laughed at”: Hughes, 50.

  “I did not feel. . . at those pictures”: Lester.

  “probably selected. . . could have chosen”: NPR.

  “PC or not to be?” Lanes, Looking Glass, 177.

  “because she was. . . mother there”: Konigsburg 1972, 56.

  ‘Negro’ is changed to ‘black’: Konigsburg 2007, 56.

  “canonized as a. . . grown-ups)”: Nel, “Huckleberry Finn.”

  “I’m by no means. . . stories stand alone” and “I think authors’ . . . talk about in teaching it”: Quoted in Bosman, “Publisher.”

  “provoke and unsettle” and “Margaret Wise. . . Goodnight Moon”: Nelson.

  “Maybe we shouldn’t. . . Sometimes, it’s ugly”: Quoted in Hudson.

  “they don’t require. . . Aunt Sally”: Fishkin.

  “Huck is no Simon. . . the good guys”: Sutton, “Stage Manager.”

  “horrified” and “That’s Not Twain”: Editorial, New York Times.

  “People should be. . . sense of offensiveness”: Nel, “Huckleberry Finn.”

  “We are of course opposed. . . generation of readers” and “Revising another author’s. . . we took lightly”: Lofting, xi.

  “remarkable”: Griswold, xii.

  “No person of color has been president”: St. George, 43.

  “On the one hand. . . Caldecott Medal”: Sutton, “And Someday.”

  “When my mother. . . like them”: Lawson, Strong and Good, 31.

  “When my father. . . called him Dick”: Ibid., 32.

  “Their attention. . . and customs”: Lawson, Rabbit, 73–74.

  “large packing cases with holes in them”: Dahl, 71.

  “from the very deepest. . . . ever been before”: Ibid., 73.

  Eleanor Cameron complained. . . slaves in a new land: Cameron.

  “real Nazi stuff” and “They thought I was. . . crossed my mind”: Quoted in Sturrock, 493.

  “bilious yellow skin and slit and slanted eyes”: Quoted in Lanes, Looking Glass, 185.

  “there seems to me. . . Five Chinese Brothers”: Ibid., 188.

  “[Seattle] was speaking. . . or the environment” and “As she has changed. . . the right people!”: Oyate.

  “One of my pet peeves. . . do, and badly” and “This particular. . . I yelled”: Perkins, interview.

  “You look. . . Just like. . . just to prove it”: Perkins, Sunita Experiment, 179.

  “HOLY BLUNDERS. . . letters from readers”, and “I almost bawled. . . I definitely did”: Perkins, interview.

  “You look. . . Just like. . . just to prove it”: Perkins, Not-So-Star-Spangled, 176.

  “What a lesson! . . . of a reissue”: Perkins, interview.

  “Beneath the palm-tree. . . mighty welcome”: Travers, Mary Poppins, 92.

  “Remember. . . not as important” and “[f]ormal English. . . a formal English”: Quoted in Schwartz, 135.

  “We’ve been anticipating. . . welcome as sunlight”: Ibid., 136–137.

  “Eskimo with a spear. . . a tomahawk”: Travers, Mary Poppins, 100.

  “full of revenge” and “racist nightmare. . . white child”: Schwartz, 137.

  “He belonged. . . England with her”: Travers, Friend Monkey, 60–61.

  “two historical periods. . . aspect of pioneering”: Spaeth, Writers, 376.

  “We have no books. . . should write one”: Newman, 31.

  “obscene and vulgar,” “a dangerous and. . . protected,” and “decaying the minds of children”: Quoted in Green and Karolides, 137.

  “Being gay is just one more kind of love”: Willhoite, 28.

  “Burned! . . . Nazis burn books”: Quoted in Jenkins, 49.

  “During my testimony. . . other way around!”: Garden, interview.


  Behind-the-Scenes Interlude: Some Hidden Delights of Children’s Literature

  “Gotcha!” Quoted in Kingman, 264.

  “gratuitous” and “Disney paper doll”: Kirkus.

  “Virginia. . . 1776”: Fritz, 43.

  “My astigmatism. . . very nice” and “That’s dirty. . . Schart Hyman”: Quoted in School Library Journal, 9.

  “[I]n view of the fact. . . in this form”: Ibid.

  “It certainly escaped. . . would never condone”: Ibid., 10.

  “I am so happy. . . Gotcha!” Quoted in Kingman, 264.

  “You have to make. . . with our work”: Steptoe.

  “I memorize. . . that afternoon”: Tusa.

  “I miss him. What a genius he was”: Hurd.

  “Trina. . . was a sharp-eyed. . . the wicked queen”: Yolen.

  “The story spoke. . . into that book”: Hyman, 296.

  “The people in. . . through my hand, ” “albeit rather idealized and prettified,” and “an astonishingly accurate portrait”: Ibid.

  “He’s a prince. . . . she’d been through”: Ibid., 297.

  “She used to tell. . . prince to me”: Yolen.

  “found a particular. . . morosely into a drink”: Ibid.

  “extremely ugly” and “great big teeth. . . . sweaty foreheads”: Sendak, Questions, 265.

  “I wanted my. . . Jewish relatives”: Quoted in Lanes, 88.

  “Acknowledgments to Dickie Birkenbush”: Burton, 39.

  “My father had. . . familiar with it”: Sullivan.

  “This blunder. . . was furious”: DiTerlizzi.

  “and it was still hot”: Sendak, Wild Things, 39.

  “[It] turned into. . . and I won” and “dopey. . . . Unemotional. . . book is ‘hot’“: Quoted in Setoodeh.

  “When I got home. . . Valley of the Shadow’”: Quoted in Neumeyer, 163.

  Kids Love ’Em, Critics Hate ’Em. . . And Vice Versa

  “Not recommended for purchase by expert”: Lepore, 67.

  “Practices of publishers. . . for oncoming books”: Kensinger, 20.

  “the threat to young readers posed by the pulps”: Scharnhorst, 119.

  “S. S. Green. . . School of Cambridge”: Ibid.

  “Reading only. . . sea-animals or plants”: Dodge, 360.

  “Stratemeyer put two. . . to other writers”: Billman, 21–22.

  “Nancy’s abilities certainly. . . follows her adventures”: Mason, 52.

 

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