FROM THE PUBLISHER

This little volume of big ideas captures the simplicity and insight of children's literature in spirited quotations from more than two hundred well-loved books. Favorites old and new -- Charlotte's Web, Peter Pan, Sounder, Goodnight Moon, Eloise, Number the Stars -- encourage us never to lose sight of the values and virtues we learned as kids.

SYNOPSIS

A collection of over three hundred quotations from the best-loved children's books of all time, What the Dormouse Said brings together the wit and wisdom of such classics as Charlotte's Web, Peter Pan, Eloise, Goodnight Moon, and many others. Organized around twenty-one topics--courage and faith, love and friendship--these lines remind weary adults not to lose sight of the values and virtues they learned as kids--to recognize the importance of being yourself, to respect nature, to live adventurously, and to be defiant when it counts.

With witty illustrations by Pierre Le-Tan, here is a book for new parents, grandparents, teachers and educators, and nostalgic baby boomers--a book that recaptures for all of us the joy of reading for the first time.

FROM THE CRITICS

Children's Literature

Quotes from over 200 children's books illuminate different facets of life in this compact volume. The book is aptly subtitled "Lessons for grown-ups from children's books." And, so, readers find quotes organized into categories such as faith and courage, growing wise, character and individuality, family woes, and greed, envy, pride and sloth. Most of the quotes are from books written in the 20th century; however, several stretch back to the 1800s. In Dealings with the Fairies, written by George McDonald in 1867, there is the following—"I have no time to grow old...I am too busy for that. It is very idle to grow old." In addition to standard classics, readers will find less well-known books, including some that are out of print. The book's format invites readers to peruse entries at their leisure and in no particular order. Each entry and chapter can stand alone. Lovers of children's books and the uninitiated can glean much wisdom from these passages. This volume is an excellent choice as a bedside table gift. 1999, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, $14.95. Ages 12 up. Reviewer: Jeanne K. Pettenati

The Five Owls

"There's nothing as cozy as a piece of candy and a book." That's the apt observation noted in Betty MacDonald's Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic (HarperCollins, 1949). Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "By necessity, by proclivity—and by delight, we all quote" and added, "Next to the originator of a good sentence is the first quoter of it." How do I know that? Well, I came across the passage in my copy of The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. But I could have looked in up in my Barlett's Familiar Quotations, or any of the other anthologies of quotations I own. I am a great collector of quotations. I love a good quote and like to pass them along to others. Consequently, I own and use a large collection of quote books. Whenever I come across what I think is a memorable or arresting passage in a book I am reading, I write it down. As a dorm counselor years ago, I began posting quotes on my door, and I now continue to put them on my office door at the university where I teach children's literature, as well as on my bulletin board over my desk at home. I consider a good quote a distillation of a great book. The one area frequently overlooked in anthologies of quotations is selections from children's books. There's usually a good selection of passages from Lewis Carroll's Alice books, nursery rhymes and fables. Occasionally, the collections include a line or two from Mark Twain or A.A. Milne. But often that's were they end. That is exactly why Amy Gash's What the Dormouse Said: Lessons for Grown-ups from Children's Books is such a welcome addition to my bookshelf. Anyone who enjoys reading children's books and savors a good quotation will enjoy browsing through its selections. Gash has chosenpassages from nearly two hundred children's and adolescent's books ranging from Aesop's Fables to J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer' Stone (Arthur A. Levine, 1997). While Gash admits hers is an idiosyncratic collection, I was able to locate many of my favorite passages from E.B. White, Margaret Wise Brown, and Maurice Sendak. The quotations are grouped under twenty broad headings such as "Practical Musing," "Love and Friendship," and "Hidden Truths." The collection is hardly encyclopedic. If you are frantically searching for that specific line from Winnie-the-Pooh, or Charlotte's Web you can't complete from memory, you are bound to be frustrated. Gash has tried to weigh her collection in favor of passages from contemporary rather than classic children's books. I think she is a bit too fond of Walter Brooks's The Collected Poems of Freddy the Pig (1953); and there were a couple of authors, such as Louise Fitzhugh and Beverly Cleary, whom I think should have been included, but their absence was more than made up for by the overall quality of the selections. A quote can or act as a reminder to reacquaint yourself with an old favorite. One of my favorite passages from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland (1865) is "'What is the use of a book,' thought Alice, 'without pictures or conversations?'" is included. I find it hard to resist Ruth Stiles Gannett's "One doesn't contradict a hungry tiger" from My Father's Dragon (Buccaneer Books, 1948), or Jean Webster's "The world is full of happiness, and plenty to go round, if you are only willing to take the kind that comes your way. The whole secret is in being pliable" from Daddy-Long-Legs (1912). On the other hand, a quote can function like a guidepost that leads you to a new book. The inclusion of Dennis Hamley's "Things are not untrue just because they never happened" from Hare's Choice (1988) and Emily Arnold McCully's "Nothing is softer than water. Yet it wears away the hardest rock" from Beautiful Warrior (Arthur A. Levine, 1998) has added two novels to my reading list. Pierre Le-Tan's simple black-and-white drawings effectively bring out the humor and wisdom embodied in these quotations. The title of Gash's collection is also derived from another Alice in Wonderland passage, "The Dormouse sulkily remarked, 'If you can't be civil, you'd better finish the story for yourself.'" This is strikingly different from the way the passage was recalled by Jefferson Airplane in its song "White Rabbit," in which Grace Slick intones, "Remember what the Dormouse said, 'Feed Your Head.'" The difference between the two passages should act as a reminder that when it doubt, you can always look it up. 1999, Algonquin Books, $14.95. Ages Adult. Reviewer: Jan Susina — The Five Owls, May/June 2000 (Vol. 14 No. 5)

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Kenneth Grahame

On Pleasure: "Believe me, my young friend, ther is nothing--absolutely nothing--half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats." — The Wind in the Willows

Jean Webster

On Acceptance: "The world is full of happiness, and plenty to go round, if you are only willing to take the kind that comes your way." — Daddy-Long-Legs