Top 100 Quotes About Children's Literature
#1. The Grimm collections were never intended for children. Not because kids were excluded, but because the division we make today of children's literature didn't exist then. The idea of protecting children from tales with violence didn't occur until the earlier part of the 19th century.
Jack Zipes
#3. Dead parents are gruesome, yes, but anyone who's anyone in children's literature has either been orphaned or abandoned; well-adjusted kids from stable two-parent homes don't go on hero quests.
Lynn Messina
#4. 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
#5. In some ways, getting published in children's literature is a little more open than publishing adult literature. It's less hinged on who you might know.
Marie Rutkoski
#6. 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
#7. Mr. McGregor's a nasty piece of work, isn't he? Quite the Darth Vader of children's literature.
Jasper Fforde
#8. I'm kind of a reluctant Anglophile. My mother's a children's librarian, and all of the children's literature I read was from her childhood - E. Nesbit and Dickens, which isn't children's literature at all, but I was sort of steeped in English literature. I thought I was of that world.
Jefferson Mays
#9. Regarding children's literature, look for interesting content and well-constructed sentences clothed in literary language. The imagination should be warmed and the book should hold the interest of the child. Life's too short to spend time with books that bore us.
Deborah Taylor-Hough
#10. I have spent a great deal of my time defending my work against those who see it as too complicated, too old in approach, too bleak to qualify as children's literature. This has been the bane of my life.
Sonya Hartnett
#11. I've always been interested in a certain kind of sophistication in children's literature. I loved Roald Dahl; I loved the underlying nastiness of some of his - darkness of his tales.
David Small
#12. Animals in children's literature always have a soul life because children perceive animals as having souls.
Linda Bender
#13. They [Narnia] are, perhaps, the greatest classics of children's literature of the twentieth century.
Douglas Gresham
#14. When I started writing and illustrating, I knew little of classic children's literature. My stories came from real life, from my concerns about what was happening in the world.
Michael Foreman
#16. In a single lifetime, roughly from 1865 to 1930, one finds the pioneering and patterning works of modern fantasy, science fiction, children's literature and detective fiction, of modern adventure, mystery and romance.
Michael Dirda
#17. [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
#18. Margaret Atwood was the author who took me out of children's literature and guided me towards adult literature.
Eleanor Catton
#19. There's a different flavor to children's literature you read after you grow up than there was reading it as a child. Things that were sweet as a child become bitter once you grow up.
Mizuki Nomura
#20. It is, of course, traditional in children's literature to get rid of the parents.
Anthony Horowitz
#21. 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
#22. A lot of (children's literature) beginners get bogged down by morals. A moral should never be driving the story. And a moral should never be confused with a plot. You can't preach to kids, and you can't talk down to them, either. It's amazing how they sense condescension.
Patty Smith
#23. In an age that seems to be increasingly dehumanized, when people can be transformed into non-persons, and where a great deal of our adult art seems to diminish our lives rather than add to them, children's literature insists on the values of humanity and humaneness.
Lloyd Alexander
#24. Children's literature is one of my joys, and it's also my mental comfort food.
Gretchen Rubin
#25. Samuel Marshak was one of the founders of modern Russian children's literature. Soviet children used to know his poems by heart, but only since glasnost have American editors shown any interest in issuing his poems here.
Michael Patrick Hearn
#26. I haven't been very enthusiastic about the commercialization of children's literature. Kids should borrow books from the library and not necessarily be buying them.
Beverly Cleary
#27. 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
#28. Like most people, I have several pet subjects - that may or may not be interesting to other people. Don't get me started on happiness, or habits, or children's literature, or Winston Churchill, unless you really want to talk about it.
Gretchen Rubin
#29. I have a passion for children's literature. Young adult literature. I love it. I've always loved it.
Gretchen Rubin
#30. The attitude that poetry should not be analyzed is prevalent among many who consider themselves experts on children's literature. But I suspected that kids like to look closely at things and figure out what makes them go.
X.J. Kennedy
#31. In Britain, the great hidden secret of talking animals and children's literature is how political it was in its bones, beneath the obvious cuteness.
Andrew O'Hagan
#32. 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
#33. I was lucky enough to be a child during the renaissance of Australian children's literature, when people like Ivan Southall, Colin Thiele, Lilith Norman and Wrightson were pumping out hugely inspiring stuff.
Catherine Jinks
#34. Good children's literature appeals not only to the child in the adult, but to the adult in the child.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
#35. The orphan in children's literature allows the child protagonist to move the story forward themselves. I think that, however happy a family, every intelligent child thinks: 'How did I come to be born to these parents?' - it is about finding your place in the world.
Brian Selznick
#36. I'm not terribly conversant with children's literature in general. I tend to read books for adults, being an adult.
Lois Lowry
#37. It was a combination of an intense interest in children's literature, which I've always had, and the feeling that I'd just have a go and see if I could do it.
Penelope Lively
#38. Would you like some more pancakes? Annie asked. I could tell that Annie was a smart girl. I hate to eat on the job. But I must keep up my strength.
Marjorie Weinman Sharmat
#39. If you ever meet someone who thinks they are so special, the best thing to do is smile. You don't have to say anything. Be friendly and then go do
your best. That will make you special, too!
Jeff Hutchins
#40. A surprising number of people - including many students of literature - will tell you they haven't really lived in a book since they were children. Sadly, being taught literature often destroys the life of the books.
A.S. Byatt
#41. It pains me to admit this, but Roger was a good sight less stupid than most children.
Heidi Schulz
#42. Today was a rainy, dreary, wear-your-steel-toed-mud-shoes Wednesday.
Greg Pincus
#43. When we've decided to tell the truth in a story, we should tell good, strong versions of it, proper versions that kids can do something with.
Celine Kiernan
#44. It's a sort of patronizing idea that literature for children has to feature role models of exemplary behavior. I think not only is that bogus, but it leads to really boring books.
Mac Barnett
#45. Children's books are often seen as the poor relation of literature. But children are just as demanding as adult readers, if not more so. I should know. I'm a children's writer myself.
David Walliams
#46. Calico Kitty
My calico kitty
was painted and primed
she could prowl
the night away ~
without spending a dime...
Muse
#47. Jocelyn did not want to always remain the same. Where was the adventure in that?
Heidi Schulz
#48. 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
#49. A skunk is walking by. Skunks don't hurry or hide. The dogs and cats pretend not to notice them. It is best not to.
Alice Provensen
#50. 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
#51. I have children, and this notion - that there might be a single book that introduces children to literature - terrifies me. But you could do worse than Mary Norton's 'The Borrowers.' I loved it as a kid, and my kids love it, too.
Elizabeth McCracken
#52. Anything can become a children's book if you give it to a child ... Children are actually the best (and worst) audience for literature because they have no patience with pretence.
Orson Scott Card
#53. Life on
Life on the reservation
Life on the reservation is dirty
Life on the reservation is dirty, filthy
Life on the reservation is dirty, filthy dogs.
(Dena Colhoff, student)
Timothy P. McLaughlin
#54. Children's books do not exist in a vacuum, unrelated to literature as a whole. They are a portion of universal literature and must be subjected to the same standards of criticism as any other form of literature.
Lillian H. Smith
#56. Have a little faith in your sons. This journey will be the making of them.
C.J. Milbrandt
#57. Big Ma didn't need to say any more and she didn't. T.J. was far from her favorite person and it was quite obvious that Stacey and I owed our good fortune entirely to T.J.'s obnoxious personality.
Mildred D. Taylor
#58. Let your boys test their wings. They may not be eagles, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't soar free.
C.J. Milbrandt
#59. If you haven't walked in someone else's shoes, it's difficult to know the fit, so be kind and compassionate.
Heather Wolf
#60. Originally I had planned to write just a couple of children's books and then, return the focus on adult literature. A funny thing happened along the way - I kept having new ideas, and then I looked up one day, and 30 years had passed!
Nikki Grimes
#62. The evening uneven sea glimmered with slices of dairy moon, the surface waves a shifting brew of dark tea stirred by an atmospheric spoon.
Neale Osborne
#63. Why is it that those who are the most concerned with manners rarely have any themselves?
Heidi Schulz
#64. When I listen to you, God
when I do what you ask me to,
I am like a tree
planted by a river,
a tree full of fruit
with leaves that are always green. Ps 1(paraphrased)
Marie-Helene Delval
#65. We all R failures that's why V need #CHILDREN to fulfill D needs of #Society,#Nation,#Worlds , so that we can live the same old selfish way
Tushar Upreti
#66. A crowd began to gather round to watch the Heat begin.
They soon would learn which one would earn the famous Golden Fin!
The boards were tied to dolphin guides that pulled them like a sleigh
to what they called The Channel, every surfer's Dream Highway!
J.Z. Bingham
#67. Nothing in life comes easy and without a price. The trick is learning to never give up.
Michael Alexander Beas
#68. It is the best way to write poetry, letting things come. -Winnie-the-Pooh
A.A. Milne
#70. Your name isn't Sniffles?" Ewan pretended to be surprised.
C.J. Milbrandt
#71. None of the seven is really good, for the excellent reason that Australian children never are.
Ethel Turner
#72. We would learn as much as we could, be as honourable as we could, be as courageous as we could, and be as happy as we could.
S.L. Mills
#73. It is such a privilege to learn from children as they discover new worlds of possibility and give themselves fully over to their dreams, inspiring a few adults along the way.
Colleen Mariotti
#74. More than this, I believe that the only lastingly important form of writing is writing for children. It is writing that is carried in the reader's heart for a lifetime; it is writing that speaks to the future.
Sonya Hartnett
#75. Children's books aren't textbooks. Their primary purpose isn't supposed to be "Pick this up and it will teach you this." It's not how literature should be. You probably do learn something from every book you pick up, but it might be simply how to laugh.
J.K. Rowling
#76. I don't know anyone who remembers meeting their parents when they were a baby so i'm just like everybody else. -Zoey (100% Real)
Tara Michener
#77. The odd was the ordinary at Alistair Grim's. The people who lived there were odd. The things they did there were odd. Even the there itself there was odd.
Gregory Funaro
#78. Protect our children from failure, is impossible; Teach them how to get up can make the difference
Mayra A. Diaz
#79. There is a very big difference between writing for children and writing for young adults. The first thing I would say is that 'Young Adult' does not mean 'Older Children', it really does mean young but adult, and the category should be seen as a subset of adult literature, not of children's books.
Garth Nix
#80. I love to read about anger. A "feel bad" book always makes me feel good. And no other novel in the history of literature is more depressing than Christina Stead's The Man Who Loved Children.
John Waters
#81. The smaller girl hid her eyes with her hands, and Ewan smiled. Did she think that would make her invisible?
C.J. Milbrandt
#82. A fortress built long ago,
Walls made timeless by historic glory.
The small girl in the boat slows,
To listen to its story.
Rachel Lewis
#83. My grandma, Mrs Grace Ayorkor Acquah said 'Educating the child is everybody's business.
Lailah Gifty Akita
#84. Themes that are "too large for adult fiction can only be dealt with adequately in a children's book" - Philip Pullman
(Hunt and Lenz, 2001, p. 122 as cited by Hunt, 2005, p. 204)
Philip Pullman
#85. Literature has the ability to open up a whole new world to children, but we need to have a share in helping them to find that door and open it with them. Let's set the example and help to foster this love of reading in our little ones.
Carmela Dutra
#87. Ganix didn't need to make friends. Everyone was a friend!
C.J. Milbrandt
#88. Lots of children I know are excited to grow up. So I wonder why this man was so happy to become young again?
Sara Rich
#89. When you are falling short in vocabulary to explain the emotion in your story.Than you are writing the right story
Tushar Upreti
#90. A child's imagination can be found in the heart of a good book.
K. Lamb
#91. Every book has it's destiny, Like a human life , Sometime when an Author is dead the destiny of the book begins" The days of Childhood !!!!!
Tushar Upreti
#92. If you write a kid's book only for kids, then you have failed.
Don Roff
#93. Ocean waves gently rock the boat,
As if to the tune of a lullaby.
She sits still as the boat silently floats
Under the infinite blue sky.
Rachel Lewis
#94. Childhood is the time and children's books are the place for powerful emotions, powerful language, powerful art ... There is no room for cutesy books, dull books, or books that talk down. Children are not inferior. They may be small in stature but not in what they feel, think, listen, and see.
Betsy Hearne
#95. I am Captain James Hook! I am no victim; I create them! I do not have bad dreams; I inspire them!
Heidi Schulz
#96. Jocelyn's stomach lodged another complaint with the management regarding the length of time since breakfast.
Heidi Schulz
#97. A rich man's soup - and all from a few stones. It seemed like magic!
Marcia Brown
#99. One of my rules is never to look sideways at what other people are doing but instead, do what I feel is right.
Annie Bryant
#100. Annie has brown hair and brown eyes. And she smiles a lot. I would like Annie if I liked girls.
Marjorie Weinman Sharmat
