Chris Van Allsburg Quotes
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I don't know if what kids really want is a hamster. What they want is a dog. So the hamster ends up being a substitute: 'Well, would you accept this?'
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I love the idea of a tiny window between the back stoop and the pantry, where the milkman would pass through the cheese. But of course, there is no milkman anymore. So somebody coming by the house and seeing the window would say, 'Oh, that must be original, because that's where the milkman passed the cheese through to the pantry.'
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In the same way that a mundane object can have a personality somehow, I try to suggest that a mundane setting can have some menace behind it.
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I'm sensitive to the things I see.
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The Polar Express is about faith, and the power of imagination to sustain faith. It's also about the desire to reside in a world where magic can happen, the kind of world we all believed in as children, but one that disappears as we grow older.
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There was a great deal of peer recognition to be gained in elementary school by being able to draw well. One girl could draw horses so well, she was looked upon as a kind of sorceress.
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I'm not a perfectionist. I'm just very observant.
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I have very positive memories of reading biographies of unusual Americans as a child.
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Even the most complicated stories start with a very simple premise.
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When somebody says, 'This must be a children's book,' basically they're saying, 'You must be a child.' And so my answer is, 'Well, yes, I guess I am a child.' But I don't think of myself that way.
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If I'm not working on something, I'm eager to work on something because it's so gratifying.
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I try to satisfy the desires that people have to have their books personalized. That's a value, or feature, of bibliophilia that may vanish. How do you get your e-book signed? The idea of people standing in line to get my signature in their book, it's hard to turn them away.
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Following my muse has worked out pretty well so far. I can't see any reason to change the formula now.
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A good picture book should have events that are visually arresting - the pictures should call attention to what is happening in the story.
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The opportunity to create a small world between two pieces of cardboard, where time exists yet stands still, where people talk and I tell them what to say, is exciting and rewarding.
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I think most people agree there is a component of skill in art making; you have to learn grammar before you learn how to write.
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I believe that there will be many things that happen to me in my life that I will not be able to explain. Some of those might be magic. I'm not sure.
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As long as I can remember, I've always loved to draw. But my interest in drawing wasn't encouraged very much.
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The general effect of viewing 'Jumanji' is thrilling. I was able to see on film a thing that at one point had only existed in my imagination. I got to see the images from my book come alive.
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Santa is our culture's only mythic figure truly believed in by a large percentage of the population. It's a fact that most of the true believers are under eight years old, and that's a pity.
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I sculpted for four or five years. Mostly for my own amusement, I decided to do a picture book, and that was kind of a turning point.
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The Dick, Jane, and Spot primers have gone to that bookshelf in the sky. I have, in some ways, a tender feeling toward them, so I think it's for the best.
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My ideas are not meant to suggest dreams or reality, but a surreal quality.
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There's definitely a value in being literate.