Katherine Paterson
Winner of the 1977
CHILDREN'S LITERATURE AWARD for
THE MASTER PUPPETEER
A woman asked me recently why I "wasted" my time writing
exotic historical fiction for children. I was shaken
because I believe that growing up and making responsible
choices are universal rather than alien or exotic themes.
And I never set out to write historical novels. I was
born in China and I remember the Japanese as an occupying
army. The Japanese soldiers came screaming up the beach
and across our yard in Tsingtao practicing, they said,
for the invasion of San Francisco. I went to live in
Japan when I was twenty-four and I became a child again,
for I was suddenly not only illiterate but unable to
speak or understand. This time the Japanese taught me
things the soldiers on the beach had not. The violence
has always been there but so has the beauty. After I
returned to the States I began writing about Japan because
I missed being there and I set the stories in the past
because it is easier to see patterns there than in the
present.
But even people who don't mind my writing historical
novels ask me why I write them for children. I don't
write for children, I say. I write for myself and then
look in the catalog to see how old I am. But it's not
true that I simply write for myself. I do write for
children. For my own four children and for others who
are faced with the question of whether they dare to
become adults, responsible for their own Biblical children
of Israel, trembling on the bank of the Jordan. You'll
remember that Moses sent spies ahead who came back to
tell of the richness of the land. But ten of the spies
advised the Israelites to turn back. The cities are
fortified, they said, and the people are giants. It
would be better to return to slavery in Egypt or to
wander aimlessly in the desert.
I want to become a spy like Joshua and Caleb. I have
crossed the river and tangled with a few giants but
I want to go back and say to those who are hesitating,
Don't be afraid to cross over. The promised land is
worth possessing and we are not alone. I want to be
a spy for hope.
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