I play with things and push them to see where they can go. When I talk to children, one thing I will do is show them 2 + 2 and explain that if this was art, 2 + 2 could equal banana.

How did you get started?īarney: It changed dramatically from what I started with to what I ended up with. (AND adults!)ĬW: Tell us about your new book, A Little Bit of Oomph. Tell us about the difference it’s made with educators.īarney: I get more letters talking about how the perfectionists in the world loosen up and will go proudly up to a teacher and say, ‘look, I made a beautiful oops.’ To take the sting out of has been really marvelous and to see how it’s impacted kids.

My mom didn’t believe in coloring books but would give me blank books that I could fill out myself.ĬW: Everyone knows your amazing book Beautiful Oops. I took for granted growing up in a house full of books. My parents read a lot and there were always books in the house. At the end of the evening they would let me choose a book to take home. They would leave me in the children’s section and there was something about the smell of the books and the feel of the paper that made me feel like I would fall into a different world every time I opened a book. I grew up in Los Angeles and in Hollywood there was a bookstore my parents would take me to on Friday nights. She was a reading and study skills counselor at UCLA.

We are so excited to have gotten the chance to hear from acclaimed children’s author, Barney Saltzberg, on the creative process behind his latest book, A Little Bit of OomphĬW: How did you become interested in books and literature?īarney: My mom was an educator.

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