I Wanted My Wild Things To Be

One Of The Few Graces Of Getting Old - And God Knows There Are Few Graces - Is That If You've Worked Hard And Kept Your Nose To The Grindstone, Something Happens: The Body Gets Old But The Creative Mechanism Is Refreshed, Smoothed And Oiled And Honed. That Is The Grace. That Is What's Happening To Me.

I Never Spent Less Than Two Years On The Text Of One Of My Picture Books, Even Though Each Of Them Is Approximately 380 Words Long. Only When The Text Is Finished ... Do I Begin The Pictures.

We're Supposed To Be Civilized. We're Supposed To Go To Work Every Day. We're Supposed To Be Nice To Our Friends And Send Christmas Cards To Our Parents.

Kids Never Get Pissed At Their Parents. Unheard Of.

From Their Earliest Years Children Live On Familiar Terms With Disrupting Emotions, Fear And Anxiety Are An Intrinsic Part Of Their Everyday Lives, They Continually Cope With Frustrations As Best They Can. And It Is Through Fantasy That Children Achieve Catharsis. It Is The Best Means They Have For Taming Wild Things.