Cornelia Maude Spelman
Cornelia Maude Spelman, MSW, is a writer, artist, and former therapist. Her “The Way I Feel” picture books for children have sold over two million copies and been translated into eleven languages. Her new book A FOOT IS NOT A FISH! helps parents have fun while showing their children that it is not hard to see what is true and what is not, using absurd comparisons that every child—and parent—will instantly understand: “A FOOT IS NOT A FISH AND A CAT IS NOT AN EGG. CHICKENS DO NOT BARK, AND A HAND IS NOT A LEG. A PEACH IS NOT A PEAR AND A ‘D’ IS NOT AN ‘E’. THINGS ARE JUST WHAT THEY ARE, ON THAT WE MUST AGREE.”
A FOOT IS NOT A FISH! also helps parents make the gentle point that for democracy to work people need a shared reality: “WE NEED TO KNOW JUST WHAT IS TRUE, TO KNOW WHAT’S REAL, WHAT’S NOT. ‘CAUSE IF WE GET THEM ALL MIXED UP, WE’LL BE CONFUSED A LOT.”
“It could not have been easy for Mother, an only child, to grow up without a father and with a mother who was remote. Photos of her as a child show her extremely dressed up --Cornie's beautiful little doll. But a daughter, unlike a doll, grows up, and might fall in love with and marry someone her mother does not like; she becomes an individual with her own ideas.”
“Then, whenever I feel the sun on my face, I will think of you, " I told him. "You will always be with me, Bill. Because of all I have felt for you, and all I have learned from you.”
“When I feel angry, I want to say something mean, or yell, or hit. But feeling like I want to is not the same as doing it. Feeling can't hurt anyone or get me into trouble, but doing can." (Bunny from picture book)”