E. L. Konigsburg
E. L. Konigsburg
Elaine Lobl Konigsburgwas an American writer and illustrator of children's books and young adult fiction. She is one of six writers to win two Newbery Medals, the venerable American Library Association award for the year's "most distinguished contribution to American children's literature."...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth10 February 1930
CountryUnited States of America
children born oldest-child
I've been the oldest child since before you were born
children kids acceptance
Kids want acceptance from their peers, but in two different, opposing ways: They want to be like everyone else and they want to be different from everyone else. So the question is: How do you reconcile these opposing longings?
children book past
I am convinced that not only do children need children's books to fine-tune their brains, but our civilization needs them if we are not going to unplug ourselves from our collective past.
children files liked medal unusual won
After I won the Newbery Medal for 'From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler,' children all over the world let me know that they liked books that take them to unusual places where they meet unusual people.
became carnegie children college graduate laboratory private school science taught three university until waited worked
When I was in college at Carnegie Mellon, I wanted to be a chemist. So I became one. I worked in a laboratory and went to graduate school at the University of Pittsburgh. Then I taught science at a private girls' school. I had three children and waited until all three were in school before I started writing.
school character persons
There were times in school when a person had to do things fast, cheap, and without character.
nice safe
There's something nice and safe about having money.
hurt believe civilization
I believe in courtesy. It is the way we avoid hurting people's feelings. She thought that maybe, just maybe, western civilization was in decline because people did not take time to take tea at four o'clock.
fifteen planning minutes
Five minutes of planning are worth fifteen minutes of just looking.
eye soul want
The eyes are the windows of the soul.... If someone was to look into your eyes, what would you want them to see?
color broken add
They are saying that if life has a structure, a staff, a sensible scaffold, we hang our nonsense on it. And they are saying that broken parts add color and music to the staff of life.
want waste doe
Every now and then, a person must do something simply because he wants to, because it seems to him worth doing. And that does not make it worthless or a waste of time.
writing differences discipline
Finish. The difference between being a writer and being a person of talent is the discipline it takes to apply the seat of your pants to the seat of your chair and finish. Don't talk about doing it. Do it. Finish.
thinking bridges space
Silence does for thinking what a suspension bridge does for space -- it makes connections.