John Boyne Quotes

It seems to me that not only the writing in most children's books condescends to kids, but so does the art. I don't want to do that.

Writing for children, you do bear a responsibility to not include overt or graphic adult content that they are not ready for and don't need, or to address adult concepts or themes from an oblique angle or a child's limited viewpoint, with appropriate context, without being graphic or distressing.

You cannot write for children They're much too complicated. You can only write books that are of interest to them.

If it's not good enough for adults, it's not good enough for children. If a book that is going to be marketed for children does not interest me, a grownup, then I am dishonoring the children for whom the book is intended, and I am dishonoring books. And words.

There are no taboos. Every topic is open, however shocking. It is the way that the topics are handled that's important, and that applies whether it is a 15-year-old who is reading your book or someone who is 55.

I feel sometimes that in children's books there are more and more grim problems, but I don't know that I want to burden third- and fourth-graders with them.

I don't write for children. I write and someone says it's for children.

I love Chris Crutcher, Sara Zarr, Lois Lowry, Elizabeth Scott, Madeleine L'Engle, Gordon Korman, Michelle Magorian, Heather Bouwman.

Writing for children is bloody difficult; books for children are as complex as their adult counterparts, and they should therefore be accorded the same respect.

Children simply don't make the distinction; a book is either good or bad. And some of the books they think are good are very, very bad indeed.

For me, writing for younger audiences and writing for adults uses two different halves of my brain.

I never wrote for children. I wrote with respect for the audience, which I've maintained all my life. Doesn't mean I couldn't be risque, but I did it smartly, without being vulgar.

I don't believe in condescending to children. I don't change any writing technique.

When doing family entertainment, you don't actually worry about kids. You know what you can't do. But in terms of sensibility and sophistication and wit and ambition, aim for your own taste level, and kids will - if they're interested in the subject matter - be glad that you did.

It's hard for children's authors to be accepted when they try to write adult books. J.K. Rowling is the exception because people are so eager to read anything by her, but it took Judy Blume three or four tries before she had a success.

My advice is this. For Christ's sake, don't write a book that is suitable for a kid of 12 years old, because the kids who read who are 12 years old are reading books for adults. I read all of the James Bond books when I was about 11, which was approximately the right time to read James Bond books.

I didn't want to do 'The Fluffy Puppy Learns to Hold Hands!' or 'Kitty Gets a Box to Play In!' There's a place for that for the little ones - some kids need that stuff. But I'm too dark and sarcastic.

I have a hard time with people who say they write for children but they don't really like children. I love children. I love talking with them.

I think good kids TV has got to have layers. It has to have compelling characters that everyone loves, but you can't dumb it down.

There's a difference between children's literature and all-ages literature. One is written expressly for children. The other is written for everyone, including children. And the difference usually manifests in not talking down to kids.

if a book is not good enough for a grownup, it is not good enough for a child.

A writer either speaks to adults and bores kids, or speaks to kids and upsets adults.

...those of us who write for children are called, not to do something to a child, but be someone for a child.

A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest.

There's some things that you wouldn't tackle in a children's book because it would be beyond, not the mental capabilities, but the experience of someone under the age of say ten or eleven to encompass. But that field is smaller than you might think. They can easily cope with death and things like that; they know about it and it's a subject that often preoccupies them.