Talk, Talk : A Children's Book Author Speaks to Grown-Ups
Chatty, funny, and learned, the speeches in this collection are an entertaining introduction to why children's books matter. From her 1968 Newbery award acceptance speech forJennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley and Me, Elizabethto her comments on censorship in the 1990s, Konigsburg draws on art, science, psychology, literature, and her own intimate experience to show how stories bring you home. She connects the speeches with brief essays that provide an overview of what's been happening in children's book publishing over three decades. Never heavy, Konigsburg respects her craft and the children she writes for. One of her speeches says it best: she finds the courage to disturb the neighborhood. An excerpt from this book will appear inBooklist's ninetieth anniversary issue, June 1/15 1995.Hazel Rochman