Marion Dane Bauer's Blog, page 13
April 17, 2018
Duck and Cover
In 1951 the US Federal Civil Defense Administration in consultation with the Safety Commission of the National Education Association produced a film called Duck and Cover. The film featured an animated turtle named Bert, who, with a catchy lyric playing in the background, taught American children to duck and cover if/when an atomic bomb detonated […]
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April 10, 2018
Dear Children
All around you, people will be tiptoeing through life, just to arrive at death safely. But dear children, do not tiptoe. Run, hop, skip, or dance, just don’t tiptoe. Shane Claiborne
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April 3, 2018
Writing Myself into Old
It’s the secret of life, I suppose, discovering where our own deepest energy lies and learning to reach into it, to mine it, to live it. It’s certainly the secret of any kind of writing that must be spun out of the substance of our own psyches. When I was young, I overflowed with ideas, […]
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March 27, 2018
When all the trees have been cut down
When all the trees have been cut down, when all the animals have been hunted, when all the waters are polluted, when all the air is unsafe to breathe, only then will you discover you cannot eat money. Cree Prophecy
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March 20, 2018
LoonSong, Once More!
It’s happening. LoonSong, the writers’ retreat that the folks who’ve been there call “Magical!” Once more we will gather in the pristine wilderness of northern Minnesota in a rustic lodge on the shores of Elbow Lake. Once more we will listen to some of the best writers and editors and agents in the children’s book […]
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March 13, 2018
Children
Children have never been good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them. James Arthur Baldwin
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March 6, 2018
Feeling as Meaning
I have never been fond of the exercise that asks students to identify a story’s theme. Most writers, I suspect, share my view. In fact, I once heard a Newbery medalist tell about her grandson receiving such an assignment about her book. Having access to the source, he called to ask. She thought for a […]
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February 27, 2018
Where the Storyteller is Loyal
“. . . Where the storyteller is loyal, eternally and unswervingly loyal to the story, there, in the end, silence will speak.” Isak Dinesen
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February 20, 2018
To Love the World
“I think our job is to love the world.” Kate DiCamillo Some days it takes courage to love this world of ours. Some days it feels easier–simpler, anyway—to pretend this fragile planet, badly used in so many ways, isn’t owed anything so demanding as love. And when I say “badly used,” I’m talking about more […]
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February 13, 2018
The Temple Bell Stops
The temple bell stops– but the sound keeps coming out of the flowers. Basho – 1600
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