Extended excerpt  [Lecture in a collection “from programs presented at Simmons College Center for the Study of Children’s Literature, Boston, Massachusetts.” Part I: ‘Rememory’]:

“How can we help children retain this curiosity, this urge to explore? To use their minds flexibly and inductively, to stretch out and grab concepts that may seem just out of reach? I’m sure that, for a start, we should revise our methods of reading instruction. If reading becomes a bore, mental death is on the way. Children taught to read by tedious mechanical means rapidly learn to skim over the dull text without bothering to delve into its implications – which in time will make them prey to propaganda and to assertions based on scanty evidence, or none.” (p. 57)

Source: Library – Innocence & Experience: Essays & Conversations on Children’s Literature (1987) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0-688-06123-0

Extended excerpt [Fiction]:

“Right again, said the old lady, nodding some more. “Words are like spices. Too many is worse than too few. Learned a bit of sense, you have.” (p. 140)

Source: Library – The Last Slice of Rainbow and Other Stories (1988) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0-06-020042-1