And for somebody who as a kid felt a little lost and a little out of control, I found a career that allows me to control everything-except the sales. You get to be Spielberg: You’re the actor, director, set designer, everything. I thought, My gosh, this is like a small movie. After college, I saw a William Steig book, The Amazing Bone. In college, I studied art because John Lennon studied art. But I had a mom who was a reading and studies skills counselor at UCLA, and she gave me enough tools to get through. I was always getting sent home with notes saying, “I think your child has potential, but we’re just not sure what to do with him.” I had a lot of learning issues that they just didn't diagnose in those days. So if my son came home and said, “I’m hungry,” I’d go, “Good title.”

It drove my kids crazy when they were little. When I don’t expect it, one slams into my head.īarney Saltzberg: I get a lightning bolt on a regular basis. Since then, books come to me like a muse. But now I do.” And in that second, I realized it was a book for children about identity. When I was little, I didn’t know who I was. When I was little, I didn’t know what dreams were. And at the end of the list, I wrote three things that made me cry: “When I was little, I didn’t know what a family was. I didn't even know it was a book-I just made a list of things that Annie once couldn’t do and now could. Then one day, my 4-year-old mentioned to me, 'Back in the day, I used diapers, but now I use a potty.” When she walked out of the room, I sat in my office with tears in my eyes and wrote on a piece of paper, When I Was Little: A Four-Year-Old’s Memoir of Her Youth. Jamie Lee Curtis: I never thought I’d write a book in my life. Deborah Farmer Kris: April 2 is International Children’s Book Day.

Barney saltzberg books