By Jim Denney
Here are a few of my favorite insights from children’s authors about the books they write and the readers they write for . . .
Illustration from Five Children and It by E. Nesbit
“You must write the book that wants to be written. If the book will be too difficult for grownups, you write it for children.”
—Madeleine L’Engle
“When I was young I longed to write a great novel that should win me fame. Now that I am getting old my first book is written to amuse children. For aside from my evident inability to do anything ‘great,’ I have learned to regard fame as a will-o-the-wisp which, when caught, is not worth the possession; but to please a child is a sweet and lovely thing that warms one’s heart and brings its own reward.”
—L. Frank Baum
“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.” —Walt Disney
“It is usual to speak in a playfully apologetic tone about one’s adult enjoyment of what are called ‘children’s books.’ I think the convention a silly one. No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally (and often far more) worth reading at the age of fifty—except, of course, books of information. The only imaginative works we ought to grow out of are those which it would have been better not to have read at all. A mature palate will probably not much care for crème de menthe: but it ought still to enjoy bread and butter and honey.”
—C. S. Lewis
“I love letters from little kids. Adults never proclaim themselves ‘your number one fan!’”
—Lauren Baratz-Logsted
“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
“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”
—G. K. Chesterton
“You must write for children the same way you write for adults, only better.”
—Maxim Gorky
“I believe that good questions are more important than answers, and the best children’s books ask questions, and make the readers ask questions. And every new question is going to disturb someone’s universe.”
—Madeleine L’Engle
“In our time, when the literature for adults is deteriorating, good books for children are the only hope, the only refuge.”
—Isaac Bashevis Singer
Illustration from Five Children and It by E. Nesbit
“Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or a duty. It should be offered to them as a precious gift.”
—Kate DiCamillo
“Most children won’t remember an author’s name, but they remember a good story.”
—Amy Timberlake
“Good writing is difficult no matter what the reader’s age—and children deserve the best.”
—Aaron Shepard
“It is not enough to simply teach children to read; we have to give them something worth reading. Something that will stretch their imaginations—something that will help them make sense of their own lives and encourage them to reach out toward people whose lives are quite different from their own.”
—Katherine Patterson
“Don’t you think it’s rather nice to think that we’re in a book that God’s writing? If I were writing the book, I might make mistakes. But God knows how to make the story end just right—in the way that’s best for us.”
—E. Nesbit
“I’ve never written for kids. I’m just trying to tap into the kid in myself and just go with my taste.”
―Andrew Stanton (screenwriter, Finding Nemo and WALL-E)
“The world is dark, and light is precious.
Come closer, dear reader.
You must trust me.
I am telling you a story.”
—Kate DiCamillo
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And if you’d like to learn more about how to write faster, more freely, and more brilliantly than you ever thought possible, read my book Writing In Overdrive, available in paperback and ebook editions at Amazon.com. —J.D.
Jim Denney also blogs at Writing in Overdrive and Walt’s Disneyland.
Christians Read 
All brilliant quotes. ☺
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