Memorable Quotes from Simmons
Posted by annastan on July 26th, 2009. Filed under: Random Fun, Writing Rants.This weekend was packed with children’s literature fun. The Simmons Summer Institute got underway on Thursday with the theme of Crimes and Misdemeanors. There were many highlights including Kristin Cashore’s thoughtful talk about her own criminal past (childhood food theft and other rule-breaking) and the creation of her fantasy world; Anita Silvey’s well-supported assertion that children’s books profoundly change people’s lives; Jack Gantos’s hilarious and somewhat shocking tales of misadventure and mayhem; and MT Anderson’s talk on the evils of consumerism and how writers must write outside of cliches and known patterns in order to inspire change in our society.
Since it would be impossible to recap all that occured this weekend, here are some memorable quotes from the past few days:
Lenore Look: “Characters are 50% the author and 50% who they are.”
Martha Brooks: “Secrets sit at the base of how we communicate with people.”
Kevin Henkes: “Kids are essentially powerless and collections [of objects] are something they have control over.”
Avi: “History is the justification of crimes.”
Blue Balliett: “Kids like to engage with issues that adults are also struggling with.”
MT Anderson: “Teens construct themselves from the outside in.”
And my personal favorite, Vicky Smith (from Kirkus): “Sometimes a book needs to be spanked.”
