Important work

Close physical contact with the field of juvenile literature leads me to the conclusion that it must be a lot of fun to write for children —  reasonably easy work, perhaps even important work.

E.B. White, One Man's Meat

E.B. White

What's interesting about the above comment by E.B. White is that it appeared in The New Yorker in 1938, more than a decade before he wrote Charlotte's Web, (1952), thus becoming one of the most beloved writers of children's books of all time. In 1938, however, he was known only as a regular contributor to The New Yorker. His essays, such as the one called "Children's Books," were later reprinted in One Man's Meat.

White had moved from New York City to a farm in Maine with his wife, who reviewed children's books. As a result of Katharine's career, White found children's books lying everywhere in their home. Sometimes he read these books, and this led to the essay that included the somewhat prophetic comment about how fun — and easy — it must be to write books for children. Perhaps this is when the idea that he might do it himself first came to him.

Writing for children may, in fact, be relatively easy. I base this conclusion simply on the fact that so many Hollywood celebrities and Washington politicians seem to be able to write children's books. I have a friend who has had more than 500 children's books published. Not that she isn't very talented or that she doesn't work very hard. The best writers for children, including White, do work very hard, although I suspect it is also fun for them.

And sometimes, as with Charlotte's Web, their work becomes important to generations of children.

White actually made a second prophetic comment in this same essay: "Incidentally, one of the few books that struck me as being in the true spirit of nonsense is one called The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins by Dr. Seuss." Dr. Seuss was just getting started at this point, having gotten his first children's book published in 1937. Yet White singled him out from all the scores of writers whose books filled his house as someone special.