The best morals kids get from any book is just the capacity to empathize with other people, to care about the characters and their feelings. So you don't have to write a preachy book to do that. You just have to make it a fun book with characters they care about, and they will become better people as a result.
Interpretation
Books can teach children empathy through engaging characters, rather than didactic messages.
In this quote, Louis Sachar emphasizes the importance of storytelling in children's literature. He argues that rather than delivering moral lessons in a preachy manner, authors should focus on creating relatable and enjoyable characters. When children form connections with these characters, they naturally develop empathy and a sense of caring for others, ultimately leading to personal growth and better citizenship.
In practice
In a discussion about children's literature at a school event.
When I was coaching I always considered myself a teacher. Teachers tend to follow the laws of learning better than coaches who do not have any teaching background. A coach is nothing more than a teacher. I used to encourage anyone who wanted to coach to get a degree in teaching so they could apply those principles to athletics.
PowerPoint is like being trapped in the style of early Egyptian flatland cartoons rather than using the more effective tools of Renaissance visual representation.
Every book in the world is out there waiting to be read by me.
There should be no telephone in your writing room, certainly no TV or videogames for you to fool around with. If there’s a window, draw the curtains or pull down the shades unless it looks out at a blank wall.
Books are alive, you see. They're not dead, they're alive.
There is dust enough on some of your Bibles to write 'damnation' with your fingers.
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