Sid Fleischman Quotes

#1. Adult novels are as ephemeral as newspapers. Children's books stay in print for decades.

Sid Fleischman

#2. Jemmy dipped the quill in beet juice and continued scribbling. "I'll tell him you've got reserved seats in Hell."
"Aye! That's the ticket!

Sid Fleischman

#3. Words were a conjuration, and their charms had begun to bewitch him.

Sid Fleischman

#4. As an adult, I'll give a writer 50 pages. If the book doesn't interest me in 50 pages, I'll say the heck with it - there are just too many other things to read. A child won't give you 50 pages.

Sid Fleischman

#5. I don't see any reason to let law interfere with justice around here. We never did before.

Sid Fleischman

#6. I am astonished, when I pause to think about it, to discover myself to be an author of humorous novels for children. Or an author at all. I had a childhood much like everyone else's. What went wrong?

Sid Fleischman

#7. Joy was not the raw material of humor ... The dark source was sorrow.

Sid Fleischman

#8. The books we enjoy as children stay with us forever
they have a special impact. Paragraph after paragraph and page after page, the author must deliver his or her best work.

Sid Fleischman

#9. I am Prince Horace!"
"And I'm the Grand Turnip of China!" cutwater snickered.
"Dim-witted villains!" shouted the Prince. "I command you to turn us loose.

Sid Fleischman

#10. What was he looking for, a prince in fine velvets and a crown cocked on his head? Was it clothes that made a prince, Jemmy wondered, just as rags made a street boy?

Sid Fleischman

#11. Humor is the oxygen of children's literature. There's a lot of competition for children's time, but even kids who hate to read want to read a funny book.

Sid Fleischman

#12. In my first story, 'Mr. Mysterious & Company' ... I was asked to take out some of the humor because editors were afraid reviewers would dismiss the book as a joke. Today, humor is enjoyed and no longer regarded as literary brummagem.

Sid Fleischman

#13. Give weather reports. It helps the reality of a scene if foghorns are blowing or kites are in the sky on a windy afternoon or the day's so hot wallpaper is peeling off the walls.

Sid Fleischman