What the Dormouse Said Read online

  —Tar Beach, Faith Ringgold, 1991

  Oh, I’d love to roll to Rio

  Some day before I’m old!

  —“The Beginning of the Armadillos,” Just So Stories, Rudyard Kipling, 1902

  Come with us and join the circus, Tuppenny!

  —The Fairy Caravan, Beatrix Potter, 1929

  Animals

  “I don’t like people,” said Velvet. “. . . I like only horses.”

  —National Velvet, Enid Bagnold, 1935

  You don’t need tickets

  To listen to crickets.

  —Insectlopedia, Douglas Florian, 1998

  Cats very seldom make promises, but when they do, they always keep them. Their word is as good as their bond.

  —Freddy Goes to Florida, Walter R. Brooks, 1927

  What fantastic creatures boys are!

  —Charlotte’s Web, E. B. White, 1952

  Master said God had given men reason, by which they could find out things for themselves, but He had given animals knowledge which did not depend on reason, and which was much more prompt and perfect in its way, and by which they had often saved the lives of men.

  —Black Beauty, Anna Sewell, 1877

  A lion in a zoo,

  Shut up in a cage,

  Lives a life

  Of smothered rage.

  —The Sweet and Sour Animal Book, Langston Hughes, 1994

  Many dogs can understand almost every word humans say, while humans seldom learn to recognize more than half a dozen barks, if that.

  —The 101 Dalmations, Dodie Smith, 1957

  All the ingenious men, and all the scientific men, and all the fanciful men in the world . . . could never invent, if all their wits were boiled into one, anything so curious, and so ridiculous, as a lobster.

  —The Water-Babies, Charles Kingsley, 1863

  The streams running through my woods carry the dreams of the animals that drink there. Their dreams make the water taste sweet.

  —Beauty and the Beast, Nancy Willard, 1992

  I think the smell of horses is the most exciting smell in the world.

  —The Changeling, Zilpha Keatley Snyder, 1970

  He could tell by the way animals walked that they were keeping time to some kind of music. Maybe it was the song in their own hearts that they walked to.

  —Waterless Mountain, Laura Adams Armer, 1931

  “I wish we had tails to wag,” said Mr. Dearly.

  —The 101 Dalmations, Dodie Smith, 1957

  Dolphin, it was from your marine caress

  That I learned gentleness.

  —Arion and the Dolphin, Vikram Seth, 1994

  —The Wizard’s Tears, Maxine Kumin and Anne Sexton, 1975

  Animals belong to the earth. That grace of God we pray for in the church—that must be what the animals have already.

  —Dobry, Monica Shannon, 1934

  Love and Friendship

  They dined on mince, and slices of quince,

  Which they ate with a runcible spoon;

  And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,

  They danced by the light of the moon.

  —The Owl and the Pussycat, Edward Lear, 1845

  True friends never owe each other anything.

  —Bear Circus, William Pène du Bois, 1971

  —The Runaway Bunny, Margaret Wise Brown, 1942

  “Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”

  “Does it hurt?”

  “Sometimes.” For he was always truthful. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”

  —The Velveteen Rabbit, Margery Williams, 1922

  Sometimes you know in your heart you love someone, but you have to go away before your head can figure it out.

  —Walk Two Moons, Sharon Creech, 1994

  It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.

  —Charlotte’s Web, E. B. White, 1952

  Heaven is a house with porch lights.

  —Switch on the Night, Ray Bradbury, 1955

  Where you love somebody a whole lot, and you know that person loves you, that’s the most beautiful place in the world.

  —The Most Beautiful Place in the World, Ann Cameron, 1988

  Annie Bananie,

  My best friend,

  Said we’d be friends to the end.

  Made me brush my teeth with mud,

  Sign my name in cockroach blood.

  —Annie Bananie, Leah Komaiko, 1987

  He was happy and unhappy all at once. He was in love.

  —Victor and Christabel, Petra Mathers, 1993

  Perhaps, after all, romance did not come into one’s life with pomp and blare, like a gay knight riding down; perhaps it crept to one’s side like an old friend through quiet ways.

  —Anne of Avonlea, L. M. Montgomery, 1909

  Trouble can always be borne when it is shared.

  —The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks, Katherine Paterson, 1990

  When your mother has been out a long time and she comes home and you run and kiss her, and your father runs and kisses her too, and then everybody kisses each other—that’s sandwich-kisses.

  —How to Make an Earthquake, Ruth Krauss, 1954

  She believed that friendships, to begin well, had to stand on mutual information and plenty of it.

  —Roller Skates, Ruth Sawyer, 1936

  “I don’t think I’ll last forever,” said Peach.

  “That’s okay,” said Blue. “Not many folks do. But until then, you have me, and I have you.”

  —Peach and Blue, Sarah S. Kilborne, 1994

  Practical Musings

  Everything’s got a moral, if only you can find it.

  —Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, 1865

  Strange adventures, and getting wet, and carrying on alone and that sort of thing are all very well, but they’re not comfortable in the long run.

  —Finn Family Moomintroll, Tove Jansson, 1948

  I never Saw a Purple Cow;

  I never Hope to See one;

  But I can Tell you, Anyhow,

  I’d rather See than Be one.

  —“The Purple Cow,” The Burgess Nonsense Book, Gelett Burgess, 1901

  After all, the best part of a holiday is perhaps not so much to be resting yourself, as to see all the other fellows busy working.

  —The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame, 1907

  Too much learning breaks even the healthiest.

  —Pippi Longstocking, Astrid Lindgren, 1950

  The fact that she had a nut for a head did make new ideas difficult for her mind to grasp.

  —Miss Hickory, Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, 1946

  —A Hole Is to Dig, Ruth Krauss, 1952

  “Trying to be pretty is a lot of work,” sighed Hattie to Little Mouse.

  —Hattie and the Wild Waves, Barbara Cooney, 1990

  Nothing ever seems interesting when it belongs to you—only when it doesn’t.

  —Tuck Everlasting Natalie Babbitt, 1975

  And half the fun of nearly everything, you know, is thinking about it beforehand, or afterward.

  —Uncle Wiggily’s Story Book, Howard R. Garis, 1921

  I am a Bear of Very Little Brain, and long words Bother me.

  —Winnie-the-Pooh, A. A. Milne, 1926

  You have two numbers in your age when you are ten. It’s the beginning of growing up.

  —Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill, Maud Hart Lovelace, 1942

  —Little Women, Louisa May Alcott, 1868

  People nearly always know the right answers, they just like someone else to tell them.

  —Further Tales of Mr. Pengachoosa, Caroline Rush, 1967

  —Everyone Poops, Taro Gomi, 1977

  Character and Individuality

  The Princess looked at her more closely. “Tell
me,” she resumed, “are you of royal blood?”

  “Better than that, ma’am,” said Dorothy. “I came from Kansas.”

  —Ozma of Oz, L. Frank Baum, 1907

  My name is Willie I am not like Rose

  I would be Willie whatever arose,

  I would be Willie if Henry was my name

  I would be Willie always Willie all the same.

  —The World Is Round, Gertrude Stein, 1939

  You ain’t got nothing to back you up ’cept what you got in your heart.

  —Scorpions, Walter Dean Myers, 1988

  Talent is something rare and beautiful and precious, and it must not be allowed to go to waste.

  —The Cricket in Times Square, George Selden, 1960

  It does not matter in the least having been born in a duckyard, if only you come out of a swan’s egg!

  —“The Ugly Duckling,” Fairy Tales, Hans Christian Anderson, 1845

  We’ll know the right name when the time comes. People choose their own name, or it chooses them.

  —Morning Girl, Michael Dorris, 1992

  —Sun & Spoon, Kevin Henkes, 1997

  I can stick up for myself. I can be on my own side.

  —By the Light of the Silvery Moon, Nola Langner, 1983

  Every stone is different. No other stone exactly like it. . . . God loves variety. In odd days like these . . . people study how to be all alike instead of how to be as different as they really are.

  —Dobry, Monica Shannon, 1934

  Look up at the mountain for your pattern and colors, and your quilt will be the only one of its kind.

  —Miss Hickory, Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, 1946

  Mrs. Brown gave no second chances. It was her strength.

  —National Velvet, Enid Bagnold, 1935

  What you can do is often simply a matter of what you will do.

  —The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster, 1961

  Baby, we have no choice of what color we’re born or who our parents are or whether we’re rich or poor. What we do have is some choice over what we make of our lives once we’re here.

  —Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred D. Taylor, 1976

  Great decisions often take no more than a moment in the making.

  —The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, Hugh Lofting, 1922

  It’s nearly as difficult to stay beautiful as it is to become so.

  —The Wonderful Farm, Marcel Aymé, 1951

  Trust, and not submission, defines obedience.

  —A Gathering of Days, Joan W. Bios, 1979

  —King Matt the First, Janusz Korczak, 1923

  Caste brings no honor to a man; a man’s worth is what brings honor to his caste.

  —The Iron Ring, Lloyd Alexander, 1997

  We never know the timber of a man’s soul until something cuts into him deeply and brings the grain out strong.

  —Freckles, Gene Stratton Porter, 1904

  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy;

  All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy.

  —Mother Goose nursery rhyme

  He had found out that the harder it was to do something, the more comfortable he felt after he had done it.

  —The Door in the Wall, Marguerite de Angeli, 1949

  The qualities of leadership are not something you attain overnight.

  —Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Betty MacDonald, 1957

  Nothing is softer than water. Yet it wears away the hardest rock.

  —Beautiful Warrior, Emily Arnold McCully, 1998

  You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

  —Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, Dr. Seuss, 1990

  I don’t know when I’ll be back. But back I will be.

  —Dominic, William Steig, 1972

  Family Woes

  Dear Me! what a troublesome business a family is!

  —The Water-Babies, Charles Kingsley, 1863

  Mama says that living in one room is a test of how much a family loves each other. She says anybody can get along in a palace where he can shut the door and sulk by himself but it takes real character to live with your elbows rubbing each other.

  —Miss Charity Comes to Stay, Alberta Wilson Constant, 1959

  Misery is a school dance which your parents have so generously offered to chaperone.

  —Misery Loves Company, Suzanne Heller, 1967

  Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.

  —The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 1943

  Children aren’t happy with nothing to ignore,

  And that’s what parents were created for.

  —“The Parent,” Happy Days, Ogden Nash, 1933

  —Worse Than the Worst, James Stevenson, 1994

  I guess this is what usually happens to parents. When you’re born they have to do your thinking for you because you can’t do too much of that yourself, and then they get into the habit. They keep trying to think for you practically all your life.

  —Banana Blitz, Florence Parry Heide, 1983

  About what’s wrong with grown-ups . . . is that they think they know all the answers.

  —The Changeling, Zilpha Keatley Snyder, 1970

  We often speak of a family circle, but there are none too many of them. Parallel lines never meeting, squares, triangles . . . these and other geometrical figures abound, but circles are comparatively few.

  —Mother Carey’s Chickens, Kate Douglas Wiggin, 1911

  I’ve determined never to marry.

  It’s a deteriorating process, evidently.

  —Daddy-Long-Legs, Jean Webster, 1912

  A girl can’t spoil herself, you know. Who spoiled her, then? Ah, who indeed?

  —Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl, 1964

  Aravis also had many quarrels (and, I’m afraid eve fights) with Cor, but they always made it up again: so that years later, when they were grown up they were so used to quarrelling and making it up again that they got married so as to go on doing it more conveniently.

  —The Horse and His Boy, C. S. Lewis, 1954

  Everyone repeat after me: Older brothers and sisters are vomitrocious.

  —The Girl Who Changed the World, Delia Ephron, 1993

  Sometimes even mamas make mistakes.

  —My Mama Says There Aren’t Any Zombies, Ghosts, Vampires, Creatures, Demons, Monsters, Fiends, Goblins, or Things, Judith Viorst, 1973

  I mean, the way I see it is, one of the basic jobs parents have is to tell you what you already know.

  —“What Do Fish Have to Do with Anything?” What Do Fish Have to Do with Anything? and Other Stories, Avi, 1997

  Acceptance

  If you cannot be satisfied with what you have, you must learn to be satisfied with what you haven’t.

  —Further Tales of Mr. Pengachoosa, Caroline Rush, 1967

  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.

  —Daddy-Long-Legs, Jean Webster, 1912

  —Mary Poppins, P. L. Travers, 1934

  Nothing is always.

  —The Girl Who Loved the Wind, Jane Yolen, 1972

  You were stubborn . . . and fought against the storm, which proved stronger than you: but we bow and yield to every breeze, and thus the gale passed harmlessly over our heads.

  —“The Oak and the Reeds,” Aesop’s Fables

  Every passage has its price.

  —Where the Wild Geese Go, Meredith Ann Pierce, 1988

  The world’s much smaller than you think. Made up of two kinds of people—simple and complicated. . . . The simple ones are contented. The complicated ones aren’t.

  —Willie Without, Margaret Moore, 1951

  Isn’t it better for us to end our lives with a song on our lips than to die in sorrow?

  —The King’s Equal, Katherine
Paterson, 1992

  Teach us Delight in simple things,

  And Mirth that has no bitter springs.

  —“Children’s Song,” The Puck of Pook’s Hill, Rudyard Kipling, 1906

  If tomorrow morning the sky falls . . .

  have clouds for breakfast. If night falls . . .

  use stars for streetlights.

  —If You’re Afraid of the Dark, Remember the Night Rainbow, Cooper Edens, 1979

  I’m really a very good man; but I’m a very bad Wizard.

  —The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum, 1900

  “This earthly life is a battle,” said Ma. “If it isn’t one thing to contend with, it’s another. It always has been so, and it always will be. The sooner you make up your mind to that, the better off you are, and the more thankful for your pleasures.”