'Dear Mr. Henshaw' came about because two different boys from different parts of the country asked me to write a book about a boy whose parents were divorced, and so I wrote 'Dear Mr. Henshaw,' and it won the Newbery, and I was - it's been very popular.
I feel sometimes that in children's books there are more and more grim problems, but I don't know that I want to burden third- and fourth-graders with them.
When I was in the first grade I was afraid of the teacher and had a miserable time in the reading circle, a difficulty that was overcome by the loving patience of my second grade teacher. Even though I could read, I refused to do so.
I think the best teachers had a real interest in the subject they were teaching and a love for children.
With twins, reading aloud to them was the only chance I could get to sit down. I read them picture books until they were reading on their own.
Otis was inspired by a boy who sat across the aisle from me in sixth grade. He was a lively person. My best friend appears in assorted books in various disguises.
I longed for funny stories about the sort of children who lived in my neighborhood.
I like to read, walk, cook, and travel to cities. We live in the country, so we miss museums and the bustle of city life.
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.
I have lovely memories of Los Angeles in the 1930s. I came down to live with my mother's cousin and they invited me to come and go to junior college for a year.
Children should learn that reading is pleasure, not just something that teachers make you do in school.
In 50 years, the world has changed, especially for kids, but kids' needs haven't changed. They still need to feel safe, be close to their families, like their teachers, and have friends to play with.
In my grammar school years back in the 1920s I used my ten-cents-a-week allowance for Saturday matinees of Douglas Fairbanks movies. All that swashbuckling and leaping about in the midst of the sails of ships!
I wrote books to entertain. I'm not trying to teach anything! If I suspected the author was trying to show me how to be a better behaved girl, I shut the book.
Writers are good at plucking out what they need here and there.
I was a great reader of fairy tales. I tried to read the entire fairy tale section of the library.
People are inclined to say that I am Ramona. I'm not sure that's true, but I did share some experiences with her.
I was an only child; I didn't have a sister, or sisters.
What interests me is what children go through while growing up.
Quite often somebody will say, What year do your books take place? and the only answer I can give is, In childhood.
