There's So Much More To A Book

I Became A Set Designer For Opera. I'm A Great Opera Buff, I Love Classical Music, And I Needed A Time-out.

I'm Totally Crazy, I Know That.

As A Child, I Felt That Books Were Holy Objects, To Be Caressed, Rapturously Sniffed, And Devotedly Provided For. I Gave My Life To Them. I Still Do. I Continue To Do What I Did As A Child; Dream Of Books, Make Books And Collect Books.

Illustrations Have As Much To Say As The Text. The Trick Is To Say The Same Thing, But In A Different Way. It's No Good Being An Illustrator Who Is Saying A Lot That Is On His Or Her Mind, If It Has Nothing To Do With The Text. . . The Artist Must Override The Story, But He Must Also Override His Own Ego For The Sake Of The Story.

Children Are Tough, Though We Tend To Think Of Them As Fragile. They Have To Be Tough. Childhood Is Not Easy. We Sentimentalize Children, But They Know What's Real And What's Not. They Understand Metaphor And Symbol. If Children Are Different From Us, They Are More Spontaneous. Grown-up Lives Have Become Overlaid With Dross.