The Openhearted Audience: Ten Authors Talk about Writing for Children

by Virginia Haviland (Editor)

Only connect - P. L. Travers. -- Questions to an artist who is also an author - Maurice Sendak with Virginia Haviland. -- Between family and fantasy: an author's perspectives on children's books - Joan Aiken. -- Portrait of a poet: Hans Christian Andersen and his fairy tales - Erik Haugaard. -- Sources and responses - Ivan Southall. -- The child and his shadow - Ursula Le Guin. -- Illusion and reality - Virgina Hamilton. -- Using two hats - John Rowe Townsend. -- Into something rich and strange: of dreams, art, and the unconscious - Eleanor Cameron. -- The lords of time - Jill Paton Walsh.
Edited and with an introduction by Virginia Haviland.

The writers of childrens' books whose papers are gathered here have much to say about the genesis of their own writing for children, revealing influences and impulses they feel account for particular qualities that define their books. They speak convincingly also about creative writing and children's literature in general.

What is imagination and where do the ideas expressed in fiction come from? Why do some people feel compelled to write and to what end do they compose their stories? Dreams are a key, says Eleanor Cameron. She calls dreams a significant part of her life, as are the experiences held in the unconscious, where through "slow transformation over the years" they are turned into "treasure." Similarly, Virginia Hamilton points to the significance symbols hold for her, describing in particular the symbol of the street, especially meaningful to her in connoting "the need for sharing life with others." Her intention in writing is to break down symbols and "free the reality." "Standing on the brink of a work about to begin," Jill Paton Walsh finds her "mind on fire" - and indeed she must enter such an area of excitement to be able to begin a narrative fiction.

All these authors share a conviction about the worth and complexity of writing for children, looking beyond their own individual approaches to the whole existing body of literature for children. Ivan Southall, like many a children's writer, is concerned about the low regard some people have for authors writing for children. Ursula LeGuin discusses a "puritanical distrust" of fantasy she recognized in some people, who see a pathological regression and strange amorality in fairy tales, not realizing the function and worth the tales have in children's lives.

Genres: Nonfiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Virginia Haviland was for many years the Director of the Children's Literature Center at the Library of Congress and was also author of more than two dozen books. She was graduated from Cornell University, and for her dedication to children's literature, she was awarded the Regina Medal in 1976.

Reviews

[Kathy Piselli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essays by or about P.L. Travers, Maurice Sendak, Joan Aiken, Hans Christian Andersen, Erik Haugaard, Ivan Southall, Ursula Le Guin, Virginia Hamilton, John Rowe Townsend, Eleanor Cameron, and Jill Paton Walsh. The essays are accompanied by illustrations by Mary Shepard, Maurice Sendak, Aileen Friedman, Robin Jacques, Bernard Cribbins, Quentin Blake, Susan Obrant, Jean Hersholt, Ingrid Fetz, Richard Kennedy, Ian Ribbons, Gail Garraty, Symeon Shimin, Eros Keith, Graham Humphreys, Dick Hart, Douglas Hall, W.T. Mars, Beverly Brodsky McDermott, Trina Schart Hyman, Beth and Joe Krush, Gail Owens, C.E. McVean, Juliette Palmer, Robin Eaton, Guy Fleming, and Ron Bowen. This is a remarkable compendium of authors, all now departed, many of which will only be known to people in their 60s and older, but who made a significant impact on children's literature. The essays contain many TIL moments. I learned for example that Hans Christian Andersen was sent to a Jewish school by his impoverished parents who wished to avoid the then-widespread practice of corporal punishment in other schools. And Sendak's memory of the Sunshine Bakers - I knew those guys in Night Kitchen looked familiar. And Hamilton's description of her slave-born grandfather "who at eighty could jump from a standing-still position into the air to click his heels together three times and land still standing. Never ever could I do that."

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some excellent thoughtful discourse from some of the best children's authors.