I am not sure how much good is done by moralising about fairy tales. This can be unsubtle - telling children that virtue will be rewarded, when in fact it is mostly simply the fact of being the central character that ensures a favourable outcome. Fairy tales are not, on the whole, parables.
When I was a child - in wartime, pre-television - books were my life.
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.
I think that most of the children's writers live in the world that they've created, and their children are kind of phantoms that wander around the edge of it in the world, but actually the children's writers are the children.
At my house, it's an, 'If dad says it, you can say it' kind of deal, so a lot of my slang words come off very childish at this point in my career.
In March 1950, in New York City, I was married to Marietta Soffer. We have three children: Vilhelm, Tomas, and Margrethe.
I was just so excited to have a child! I held him up like he was Simba in 'The Lion King.' I wanted to sing 'The Circle of Life.'
The first album I ever bought with my own money was 'Ten.' Every single song reminds me of my childhood.
I think Michelle Obama is on the right track with her Let's Move campaign to bring down childhood obesity. She and I come from the same state, Illinois, which is number four in the nation for obese children. One out of five Illinois children are considered obese. Not overweight, obese. And two-thirds of Americans are either overweight or obese.
I get on fine with my mum and dad, but if they want to see the grandchildren, they come to me.
