Children's Literature Quotes - Page 3

• The other thing about the Nights is that it is quite racist. One parentheses is that I think this is one of the negative things that appeal to people, that The Arabian Nights could be used as a disguise for racism. It suited the West. You could smuggle racism into children's literature, you see. The African magician in the story of Aladdin, he's labeled explicitly as the "African Magician." He's not a character but a stereotype, and a lot of this got into nursery literature in this Oriental disguise.

  Marina Warner

  Children, Character, Night

  Source: therumpus.net

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• I have a passion for children's literature. Young adult literature. I love it. I've always loved it.

  Gretchen Rubin

  Children, Passion, Adults

  Source: bigthink.com

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• There are too many coy books full of talking animals, whimsical children, and condescending adults. (Some of the most famous animals in the world have talked, but they talked real talk and they weren't called silly names like Doody and Mooloo. They were called names like The Cheshire Cat and they asked sensible questions like "Did you say pig, or fig?")

  Katharine Sergeant Angell White

  Children, Real, Silly

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• With a few exceptions, the critics of children's books are remarkably lenient souls.... Most of us assume there is something goodin every child; the critics go from this to assume there is something good in every book written for a child. It is not a sound theory.

  Katharine Sergeant Angell White

  Children, Book, Soul

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• There are people whom even children's literature would corrupt. They read with particular enjoyment the piquant passages in the Psalter and in the Wisdom of Solomon.

  Anton Chekhov

  Children, People, Literature

  Letter to M.V. Kiseleva, January 14, 1887.

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• [My mom] had always wanted to write a children's book. She was a children's librarian and an elementary school teacher, so of course she loves children and children's literature.

  Jenna Bush

  Mom, Teacher, Children

  "Jenna Bush: 'I'm living my dream job'". TODAY Interview, www.today.com. April 22, 2008.

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• I also really liked playing Mr. Tumnus in 'Narnia'. I got to play my favorite character in children's literature, which I loved. You don't get the chance to do that in other jobs.

  James McAvoy

  Jobs, Children, Character

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• A Wasn’t just isn't. He just isn't present. But you… You ARE YOU! And, now isn't that pleasant!

  Dr. Seuss

  Pleasant, Children's Literature

  Theodor Seuss Geisel, “Happy Birthday To You!”

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• Once upon a time, they say, there was a girl...there was a boy...there was a person who was in trouble. And this is what she did...and what he did...and how they learned to survive it. This is what they did...and why one failed...and why another triumphed in the end. And I know that it's true, because I danced at their wedding and drank their very best wine.

  Terri Windling

  Girl, Wine, Boys

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• 'Oh, yes,' nodded Pollyanna emphatically. 'He said he felt better right away, that first day he thought to count 'em. He said if God took the trouble to tell us eight hundred times to be glad and rejoice, He must want us to do it - some.

  Eleanor Porter

  Father, Eight, Ems

  "Pollyanna".

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• There is a tiger in my room,' said Frances. 'Did he bite you?' said Father. 'No,' said Frances. 'Did he scratch you?' said Mother. 'No,' said Frances. 'Then he is a friendly tiger,' said Father. 'He will not hurt you. Go back to sleep.

  Russell Hoban

  Mother, Hurt, Father

  Russell Hoban “BEDTIME FOR FRANCES”

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• Come, my child," I said, trying to lead her away. "Wish good-bye to the poor hare, and come and look for blackberries." "Good-bye, poor hare!" Sylvie obediently repeated, looking over her shoulder at it as we turned away. And then, all in a moment, her self-command gave way. Pulling her hand out of mine, she ran back to where the dead hare was lying, and flung herself down at its side in such an agony of grief as I could hardly have believed possible in so young a child. "Oh, my darling, my darling!" she moaned, over and over again. "And God meant your life to be so beautiful!

  Lewis Carroll

  Beautiful, Children, Lying

  Lewis Carroll (2016). “Sylvie and Bruno”, p.181, Lewis Carroll

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• In the great green room, there was a telephone And a red balloon And a picture of a cat jumping over the moon.

  Margaret Wise Brown

  Cat, Moon, Jumping

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• People didn't make life, so they can't destroy it. Even if we were to wipe out every bit of life in the world, we can't touch the place life comes from. Whatever made the plants and animals and people spring up in the first place will always be there, and life will spring up again.

  Jeanne DuPrau

  Spring, Animal, People

  Jeanne DuPrau (2012). “The Books of Ember Omnibus”, p.277, Random House Books for Young Readers

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• She asked where he lived. Second to the right,' said Peter, 'and then straight on till morning.

  James M. Barrie

  Morning, Neverland, Peter

  James M. Barrie (2015). “Peter Pan: Top 100 Classic Novels”, p.18, 谷月社

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• They [Narnia] are, perhaps, the greatest classics of children’s literature of the twentieth century.

  Douglas Gresham

  Children, Literature, Narnia

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• Mr. McGregor's a nasty piece of work, isn't he? Quite the Darth Vader of children's literature.

  Jasper Fforde

  Children, Pieces, Literature

  Jasper Fforde (2003). “Lost in a Good Book”, Viking Adult

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• There is no such thing as children’s literature.

  N. V. M. Gonzalez

  Children, Literature, Children's Literature

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• Of course all children's literature is not fantastic, so all fantastic books need not be children's books. It is still possible, even in an age so ferociously anti-romantic as our own, to write fantastic stories for adults: though you will usually need to have made a name in some more fashionable kind of literature before anyone will publish them.

  C. S. Lewis

  Children, Book, Writing

  C. S. Lewis (2002). “On Stories: And Other Essays on Literature”, p.58, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• I wish that the adults who are 'in power' cared more about what their children read. Books are incredibly powerful when we are young - the books I read as a child have stayed with me my entire life - and yet, the people who write about books, for the most part, completely ignore children's literature.

  Gabrielle Zevin

  Children, Powerful, Book

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• Fairies have to be one thing or the other, because being so small they unfortunately have room for one feeling only at a time.

  James M. Barrie

  Inspirational, Life, Feelings

  James M. Barrie (2013). “Peter Pan (Peter and Wendy) (Annotated Edition)”, p.52, Jazzybee Verlag

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• I'm not terribly conversant with children's literature in general. I tend to read books for adults, being an adult.

  Lois Lowry

  Children, Book, Adults

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• The work of one author or artist may stimulate another author or artist to push the edge, to take the risk, to go where the field hasn't gone before. The result -very exciting children's literature and art ... exciting both for the professional and for the intended audience, the children.

  Karen Hesse

  Art, Children, Dust

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• I think any good literature, whether it's for children or for adults, will appeal to everybody. As far as children's literature goes, adults should be able to read it and enjoy it as much as a child would.

  Amber Benson

  Children, Thinking, Adults

  "Amber Benson: From vampires to 'Among the Ghosts'" by Louis Peitzman, www.sfgate.com. October 21, 2010.

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• A good story is alive, ever changing and growing as it meets each listener or reader in a spirited and unique encounter, while the moralistic tale is not only dead on arrival, it's already been embalmed. It's safer that way. When a lively story goes dancing out to meet the imagination of a child, the teller loses control over meaning. The child gets to decide what the story means.

  Katherine Paterson

  Children, Mean, Unique

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