As I Look Back On What I

I Think, She Began Quietly, I Think We Want... Not Just Bread For Our Bellies. We Want More Than Only Bread. We Want Food For Our Hearts, Our Souls. We Want- How To Say It? We Want, You Know- Puccini Music.... We Want For Our Beautiful Children Some Beauty. She Leaned Over And Kissed The Curl On Her Finger. We Want Roses.

As Much Pleasure As Young People Get From Twittering And Texting, There Is No Way These Activities Will Nourish Their Minds And Spirits The Way Literature Can.

Children Have To Have Access To Books, And A Lot Of Children Can't Go To A Store And Buy A Book. We Need Not Only Our Public Libraries To Be Funded Properly And Staffed Properly, But Our School Libraries. Many Children Can't Get To A Public Library, And The Only Library They Have Is A School Library.

Words Are Humanity's Greatest Natural Resource, But Most Of Us Have Trouble Figuring Out How To Put Them Together. Words Aren't Cheap. They Are Very Precious. They Are Like Water, Which Gives Life And Growth And Refreshment, But Because It Has Always Been Abundant, We Treat It Cheaply. We Waste It; We Pollute It, And Doctor It. Later We Blame The Quality Of The Water Because We Have Misused It.

The Children's Book World Has Given Me Wonderful Friendships And An Unbelievably Rich Life.