“Never lose your childlike wonder.”-Fredrico Fellini
I love this picture. Every time I see it, it reminds me that the sweetest things in life come not from riches, or status, or fame, but from the ability to appreciate what’s really wonderful in our brief lives. To love our friends and pets, without wasting time on judgment or posing. To really laugh from our bellies, and let our faces crack like an egg in a grin.
Kids have to be taught NOT to do these things. They are teachers of joy, honesty and wonder. They laugh with their whole bodies, forgive with their whole hearts, see with open eyes.
Can’t you hear someone say “A dog shouldn’t be sitting at a table! What a crazy lady.” And so the tarnishing begins, the drips of poison into a clear soul that gradually closes down our potential to accept, appreciate, and live peaceably with other people. This usually starts when we are very young and moldable. And I consider it a kind of abuse.
Therein is one of the great opportunities a child offers an adult; to strip away the conditioning that locks us into a diminished approach to life. And it is one of the gifts of good children’s literature and media. Of all good literature, really. But where is the opportunity greater than for children?
To write a good "children's book" (or is it?) you needn’t justify yourself. Just speak well, honestly, and let your imagination find its way. No one says you’re frivolous because you love to dine on the ceiling with a purple Martian. After all. Where else can you have truly fine entrees made of spiced licorice flambe and rarified desserts made of gooey Halloween candied eyeballs? Dining is fine on the ceiling. But needless to say, incomplete if your pet is not sitting with you, too.
A fine children’s book nurtures a child's early steps on the path to a happy life, and as adults, restores us to our inner youth, whatever our age. So unleash your Guillermo del Toro. Unbridle your inner Jean Cocteau. Free the innocent child in you, and become wise. Put your hand down and write. Believe in yourself, and share it with us if you want it published here.
~Shain
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