David Bruce: The Funniest People in Relationships — Children

Children

• As a child, E.L. Konigsburg, author of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, suffered from a case of what her family referred to as “dishes diarrhea.” When it was time to do the dishes, she disappeared into the bathroom with some reading material. When she read the end of Gone with the Wind, she cried. Because she didn’t want anyone to hear her crying, she flushed the toilet again and again.

• Children’s book author Sid Fleischman lived much of his youth in San Diego, California, where snow was a rarity, if not an impossibility. When he was very young, his father drove him and his three-year-old sister, Honey, to the mountains so they could see snow and play in it. Unfortunately, Honey was so scared of the snow that she started crying and refused to get out of the car and play in the snow.

• Popular children’s author Gary Paulsen once spoke on a panel at a Minnesota college where everyone was very polite. Suddenly, a group of middle-school students — all of them fans of Mr. Paulsen’s books — rushed in and started peppering him with questions about his books and characters. Pleased, Mr. Paulsen says, “Everyone had been so proper before, and the kids just blew it wide open!”

• Children’s book illustrator Pat Cummings started drawing with crayons when she was very young. Often, she would take a drawing to her mother, who would say something like, “What a nice duck.” Young Pat would say that it wasn’t a duck, and her mother would look at the drawing more closely and say, “Oh, I see. It’s a dinosaur.” Pat would then reveal, “It’s a picture of Daddy.”

• Benjamin West, the son of a Quaker family, demonstrated exceptional artistic ability as a child. This worried the Quakers, who chose to live simply; in fact, many Quakers did not have any pictures in their houses. Therefore, his parents discussed young Benjamin’s talent with the church elders, who decided that God gave his talent to him and so he ought to develop it.

• Comedian Flip Wilson started acting at age nine in a school play about Clara Barton. The girl who was supposed to play Clara Barton got sick, and since Flip was the only child who knew Clara Barton’s lines, he played her. He said that it was a thrill to have that many lines because originally he was going to play a wounded soldier who did nothing but groan.

• Even as a child, Hugh Troy enjoyed playing practical jokes. His next-door neighbor owned a cherry tree that he was very proud of. When the neighbor went on vacation, Hugh Troy bought a few bushels of apples and tied the apples to the cherry tree branches. The neighbor called in several people to see the “miracle” before discovering the practical joke.

• Brinton Turkle dedicated his first book, Obadiah the Bold, to his youngest son, Jonathan. Mr. Turkle pointed out that the book would be read in libraries all across the United States and Jonathan’s name would appear in the front of the book. Jonathan was nonchalant about the honor, merely saying, “OK, Daddy. I don’t mind.”

• Mr. and Mrs. Perry Schwartz adopted two children — a boy and a girl, who were not related by birth — from Honduras. They brought the girl home on March 25, and a couple of years later they brought the boy home on March 23. Each year, the Schwartz family celebrates “Gotcha Day” — March 24 — by doing something special.

• Children’s book author/illustrator David McPhail enjoyed creating art even when he was very young. One day, he loaded up his little red wagon with lots of drawings he had created and dragged them off to show his little girlfriend. What happened to the drawings? Mr. McPhail thinks that his girlfriend’s mother burned them.

• When she was a child, children’s book illustrator Amy Schwartz borrowed and read many library books. At one point, she borrowed and read books by authors whose names began with W, Y, and Z because she thought that books from that section of the children’s library were more advanced than the other books.

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