In Slate magazine, Katie Roiphe wonders whether good children’s book writers need to be childlike themselves.
“Is it possible that the most inspired children’s book writers never grow up? By that I don’t mean that they understand or have special affection or affinity toward children, but that they don’t understand adulthood, and I mean that in the best possible sense. It may be that they haven’t moved responsibly out of childhood the way most of us have, into busy, functional, settled adult life.” Read more.
Roiphe may be right about certain children’s writers, but I think she misses an important aspect of Margaret Wise Brown and Goodnight Moon. The book is based on research conducted at the Bank Street School in New York. Educators there observed that very young children like to hear about common things that they see around them and know about. And they like repetition. Watching toddlers react to Goodnight Moon is proof of the theory.
Some people known for their children’s books were indeed Peter Pans who never grew up. Hans Christian Anderson comes to mind. Roiphe mentions Lewis Carroll. But surely the most important thing, whether you are a childlike children’s author or an adultlike children’s author, is to see things the way children do. Ed Emberley, the subject of my March 24 post, is an example. Mister Rogers, too, for that matter. I became an instant convert to Mister Rogers when I saw how my 3-year-old responded to him.
Would love to hear your take on this.
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
If it’s true, then the most inspired children’s books readers never grow up either. I still like reading Goodnight Moon!
In the great green room there was a telephone and a red balloon and a picture of …
Gosh, such a big question! I’ve tried three times to craft an answer, but there keep being exceptions or new things I think of.
… I don’t think it’s that they never grow up; I think it’s that they just have a sense of empathy for their audience and therefore can write to appeal to their audience. I think really great writers for children bring to that empathy the wisdom of their years and experience. You do have to have a vivid memory of being a child yourself or else strong empathy, I think. But I wouldn’t conflate that with metaphorical never-growing-up-ness.
I like Goodnight Moon for the mysterious poetry of it.
I was *hoping* you would comment, Asakiyume. “Empathy” and “vivid memory” of one’s own childhood seem right to me. Maybe for some writers, “vivid but unconscious” memories play a role, too.