Chris Meledandri Quotes

I didn't have picture books - there weren't many around when I was a child.

I grew up in a haunted house, reading Dr. Seuss.

My first children's book, 'Tickle Monster,' was inspired by tickling my son one evening.

I love stories. I loved stories when I was a kid. My mom read stories to me all the time.

I don't remember titles of books or authors from when I was young. I remember the title of only one book, which was 'The Timber Toes.' I remember it was a family of little wooden people who lived in the woods, and for some reason that stayed with me.

To me, this is one of the great things about writing kids' books: the illustrations.

I grew up with probably three different authors having a seminal influence on my childhood, Dr. Seuss being one and Maurice Sendak being another.

I would make up [Theodor] Seuss-like books at night when I was cleaning up from the dinner, you know, putting these little kids to bed, reading them rhyming books. And so that's what I started doing. They were really bad. I have some in a box and it says on the box, it's a note to my kids you know, when I die, if you ever publish these I will come back and haunt you.

As a child I loved ghost stories.

When I was a kid, the book that I liked the most was 'Aesop's Fables.' There was a version of it that my father read stories to us kids out of. I liked the idea of the short story format.

When I was growing up, Dr. Seuss was really my favorite. There was something about the lyrical nature and the simplicity of his work that really hit me.

I have a lot of respect and love for children's books.

When I was little, we had a Golden Book that had all these Disney characters in one portrait on the first page. My dad used to read from it every night. We'd play this game of find Pluto or find Donald Duck. He'd read us stories and do all the voices. Those are great memories.

I was born and raised in Ohio. During my childhood, I spent most of my time drawing and reading fairy tales and myths.

My childhood was surrounded by books and writing. From a very early age I was fascinated by storytelling, by the printed word, by language, by ideas. So I would seek them out.

I was alone as a child. I lived in fairytales, adventures, Shakespeare. They are the friends, my books.

If I give a book as a gift, it is invariably a children's book with beautiful artwork and a simple text. I adore the feel of them, the care taken in the artwork, and the high visual stimulation that sets off the simple but often powerful message the text conveys.

Maurice Sendak is the daddy of them all when it comes to picture books - the words, the rhythm, the psychology, the design.

Children's literature is one of my joys, and it's also my mental comfort food.

I got into writing because books and stories were always a big part of my life. I loved listening to them and then reading them, and I loved making them up.

My favourite author as a child and teenager, and who I still re-read now, is K. M. Peyton. She writes very truthfully; sometimes I'm not sure if I've actually done things or just experienced them in her books.

I loved stories as a kid, both being read to me and enjoying on my own. All these stories inspired my imagination, and that's what I have always aimed at doing for my readers: ignite their imaginations.

But, for instance, when I was awfully young, I read all the Oz books. They were an enormous influence on me.

I grew up in a household without a TV. We lived next door to a library for a while, and at one point, I checked out all the books in the fairy tale section. I remember the librarian's quiet smile as I'd bring back one stack and exchange it for another.

I read a lot of books to my children, and they all seem really good. I think people have gotten really good at children's books.