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I’M A LATE BLOOMER. I’VE BEEN writing for kids for about 30 years, and I sold my first picture book in 2010.
In college, my favorite class was Introduction to Children’s Literature, better known as Kiddie Lit, an elective in my elementary education curriculum at the University of Iowa back in the last century — in the 1960s.
We poured over the history of children’s books and discussed folktales, fairy tales and tall tales but barely touched on by Leo Leoni, by Maurice Sendak and by David McKee are among the best.