Literary Diet

On her receiving the Caldecott Medal in 1959, Barbara Cooney said, "I believe that children in this country need a more robust literary diet than they are getting.... It does not hurt them to read about good and evil, love and hate, life and death. Nor do I think they should read only about things that they understand.... a man’s reach should exceed his grasp. So should a child’s. For myself, I will never talk down to—or draw down to—children."

Barbara Cooney is the writer/illustrator of Chanticleer and the Fox, Miss Rumphius, and other children's books.