October Twenty-Eighteen

October Twenty-Eighteen 

I am teaching an undergraduate children’s literature course this quarter at SPU, and I’ve been reminded of the treasures found in children’s books.  We would do well to reread some of our old favorites every now and again as they have lots to teach us at every stage of life. Below are some classic children’s book quotes to share a few favorites with you and to celebrate this past month… Happy October! 

“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”

-Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables 

“We all can dance,” he said, “if we find the music that we love.”

-Giles Andreae, Giraffes Can’t Dance 

“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets  

 “Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”
-Margory Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit 

“I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always,

as long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be.”

-Robert Munsch, Love You Forever 

“The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it.”

-J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

“Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”

A. A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh

“Shall we make a new rule of life from tonight:

always try to be a little kinder than is necessary?”

J.M. Barrie, The Little White Bird 

“If you look the right way,

you can see that the whole world is a garden.”

-Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden 

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,

Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

-Dr. Suess, The Lorax

“Sometimes, I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

-Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 

"Aslan," said Lucy, "you're bigger." 

"That is because you are older, little one," answered he. 

"Not because you are?" 

"I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger." 

-C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian 

  

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”

Aesop’s Fables The Lion and the Mouse

“And Max, the king of all wild things, was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all.”

-Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are

 "We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”
-George Bernard Shaw