I love William Steig’s little moments, like the line above, about a mouse out picnicking with his wife on an overcast day in Abel’s Island.

I would not normally look to Steig for big pronouncements. But this one, from the man who wrote Shrek flies my kite.

“Art has the power to make any spot on earth the living center of the universe; and unlike science, which often gives us the illusion of understanding things we really do not understand, it helps us to know life in a way that still keeps before us the mystery of things. It enhances the sense of wonder. And wonder is respect for life.”

–William Steig, in his Caldecott Medal acceptance speech for Sylvester and the Magic Pebble

Abel's Island

a book you'd be a fool not to read