by: Kristin Rushowy
Just as Robert Munsch's work was taking off after battles with his health, an attempted terror attack grounded his latest project.
A tale by the renowned Canadian children's author about a child sneaking dolls on a plane has been put on hold given the heightened security at airports after the attempted Christmas bombing of a plane in the United States.
Since then, airports have implemented a number of measures, from forcing travellers to undergo physical pat-downs or even body scans to a ban on carry-on luggage.
"We were going to do a story on a little girl who smuggles all these dolls onto a plane, but then that thing happened in Detroit," said Munsch. "Scholastic calls me up in a panic saying, 'Hold everything, that kid couldn't smuggle anything onto the plane, she's lucky to get onto the plane herself.' "
Munsch said he had no problem with the change, and even chuckled about the coincidence of a story of his clashing with a real-life situation. He is now in talks with the publisher on his next project.
Diane Kerner, director of publishing for Scholastic Canada, said the book will be postponed for "a bit."
"A lot of kids can't take a bag on an airplane right now," she said. "We have a lot of stories of Bob's in play at any given time ... I've got four complete binders – big binders – in my office full of the stories he's sent me ... so when something seems like it might not be right at this exact moment, we've got a lot of others to choose from."
She said it was still early in the process; they had yet to meet with illustrator Michael Martchenko and the book wasn't slated to be published until the end of the year.
"Always when you are doing books for kids, you have to be sensitive to what their real world is," she said. "Especially because with Robert Munsch's books, what he's doing is taking real situations and making them ridiculous, so it's always a balance between reality and that craziness that Bob is doing. But that's what makes him so great."
Munsch, who has scaled back his public appearances since suffering a stroke in 2008 but has resumed writing two books a year, spoke to the Star in advance of ABC Canada's Jan. 27 family literacy day. The event, which he chairs, is a bid to get parents reading to their children in light of Canada's poor literacy rates.
Munsch, whose newest title, Put Me in a Book! recently hit stores, was out of commission for a year after the stroke, which initially left him unable to speak.
"I just didn't do anything for a year, and that was a good idea because I mostly slept," he said, adding he does very few school visits now. In the past, he did about 40 a year.
The former nursery school teacher, 64, says children inspire all of his stories – he simply listens to the things they tell him about their lives. He's written about smelly socks, overactive bladders and moms who forget to do laundry.
In total, he's published 54 books – including all-time favourites Love You Forever, The Paper Bag Princess and Mortimer – and sells about a million books a year around the world. He even has a spot on Canada's Walk of Fame.
from: The Toronto Star
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