The community of children’s book authors is quite wonderful. I love being a part of it. I find illustrators and writers in the field to be friendly, open, and welcoming, willing to share of themselves and their experiences. Is that one hundred percent true? I suppose nothing in this world is one hundred percent. But my experience is such that when you gather a group of children’s lit professionals together, there is endless chatter, laughter, and camaraderie. I always look forward to such gatherings, and over the years I have made many friends of people I only see at festivals, conferences, and meetings.
I suspect one of the reasons for the good feelings is that the world of children’s books is ultimately in the service of kids and reading. I can’t expect or even want to have young people read only my books and read nothing by Will Hobbs, or Pam Muñoz Ryan, or Gary Schmidt, or……and on and on.
1 thought on “Q & A: Do you ever become jealous of other authors?”
Q & A: Many years ago in an interview you talked about how you were in an auditorium and the narrator said “There comes a time when everybody begins to understand that the earth is not the center of the universe.” You then went on to say “The notion that the world is a tiny speck in the universe is very different from thinking, “I am the center of the universe.” I wanted to ask you : How do you think the fact that the world is a tiny speck in the universe impacted the way we actually think about life nowadays in the modern era?