This is Why I Write Children's Books

One day a few years ago, I went into my 11-year-old son's room and found this sign placed over the door of his beneath-the-bed storage space. It had been drawn on computer paper and nailed (yes, nailed) onto a plank of wood, which was then balanced on the end of his bed.

I'm not sure where he got the wood, or how he managed to acquire nails and a hammer with which to affix this dire warning. But obviously, a length of tape would have been insufficient. And a bit too neat for an ogre, I think.

Fortunately for my son, he was wise enough to nail this sign to a random piece of wood rather than to his actual bed. But had he chosen to do the latter, I still would have smiled and taken this picture.

Because this warning sign represents exactly the kind of imaginative thinking I have been working to instill in my children through books and creative endeavors. It represents the part of childhood that should always stay with them, no matter how old they live to be.

I want to capture these moments and preserve them in stories and poems so that they can inspire children to think, and create, and always keep a sense of wonder about the world around them. Or in their minds. Or, in my son's case, in the ogre cave under his bed.

This is why I write children's books.