OK, so I just remembered I had this great Sunday-night-lit-meme idea a couple of years ago, posted two of ’em, and then proceeded to forget all about it.
As I can’t think of anything better to write about at the conclusion of a busy weekend that involved a lot of volunteering for stuff I’ve got no business doing (e.g., putting together a newsletter, ostensibly on a one-shot basis, although I think we all know how that’s going to turn out), I’ll just see how long it takes me to lose track of a meme this time around.
Here’s your question for the week:
Who are your five favorite children’s authors, and why?
Here are mine:
1. Beverly Cleary. Nobody has ever understood what it is to be a kid quite as thoroughly or expressed it quite as vividly as Beverly Cleary. She gets it. Beezus and Ramona is pretty much the story of my life when I was a kid. (In case you are wondering, I was Beezus in that equation.)
2. Shel Silverstein. Absolutely hilarious, totally irreverent, and squarely on his young readers’ side. I have a deep and abiding distrust of people who don’t like Shel Silverstein’s work. There’s something wrong with them.
3. Maurice Sendak. Greatest illustrator ever, and he doesn’t patronize kids. There’s an honesty in his work that commands respect.
4. Dr. Seuss. I owe a lot of my social conscience to Seuss. The Lorax is maybe the greatest thing ever.
5. Madeleine L’Engle. Compelling, intelligent books filled with compelling, intelligent characters, and the metaphysical concepts in her novels keep my thought busy and have a way of emerging from dark pools of memory at moments when I need them most. A few months ago, a close friend and I had an eerie moment in which we discovered we’d both been thinking of L’Engle’s Echthroi from A Wind in the Door in reference to a perceived enemy. (Perhaps not surprisingly, I managed to Name this individual a short time later, which obviously made life easier for everyone concerned.)
Who are the authors you loved most as a child — or appreciate the most as an adult?
Emily
Red Fork Hippie 