What the Dormouse Said: Lessons for Grown-ups from Children's Books - Collected by Amy Gash, Illustrations by Pierre Le-Tan and Forward by Judith Viorst. 1999, Algonquin Books.A really fun book that I have come back to for many years and that I have flagged with numerous sticky notes highlighting quotes from children's books that are wonderful messages about life.
Some of my favorites include:
There's nothing as cozy as a piece of candy and a book. - from Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic by Betty MacDonald (1949).
"What is the use of a book," thought Alice, "without pictures or conversations?" - from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll (1865).
Trees are very nice. They fill up the sky. - from A Tree is Nice by Janice May Udry (1956).
Front yards are boring. Backyards tell stories. - from the poem, Backyards from the book Popcorn by James Stevenson (1998).
Some of these vignettes would be good to use with student writers as prompts. I could take each of these I've listed and write an essay. They really spur my creative juices.
