1. "When I was a kid - 12, 14, around there –
( )
"When I was a kid - 12, 14, around there –
I would much rather have been a good baseball
player or a hit with the girls. But I couldn't play ball,
I couldn't dance... So, I started to draw and to write.
I was... lucky that I didn't have anyone to copy, be
impressed by. I had developed my own style,
I was creating before I knew there was a Thurber,
a Benchley, a Price and a Steinberg. I never saw
their work till I was around 30."

2. "I never planned to write or draw for kids. It was
Tomi Ungerer, a friend of mine, who insisted...
practically dragged me, kicking and screaming,
into [editor] Ursula Nordstrom's office. And sh
e convinced me that Tomi was right,
I could do children's books."

3. One Inch Tall
If you were only one inch tall, you'd ride a worm to school.
The teardrop of a crying ant would be your swimming pool.
A crumb(碎屑） of cake would be a feast
And last you seven days at least,
A flea（跳蚤） would be a frightening beast
If you were one inch tall.
If you were only one inch tall, you'd walk beneath the door,
And it would take about a month to get down to the store.
A bit of fluff（绒毛） would be your bed,
You'd swing upon a spider's thread,
And wear a thimble(顶针） on your head
You'd surf across the kitchen sink upon a stick of gum.
You couldn't hug your mama, you'd just have to hug her thumb.
You'd run from people's feet in fright,
To move a pen would take all night,
(This poem took fourteen years to write--
'Cause I'm just one inch tall).

4. 'I cannot go to school today, '
Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
'I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash and purple bumps.
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
I'm going blind in my right eye.
My tonsils are as big as rocks,
I've counted sixteen chicken pox
And there's one more-that's seventeen,
And don't you think my face looks green?
My leg is cut-my eyes are blue-
It might be instamatic flu.
I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,
I'm sure that my left leg is broke-
My hip hurts when I move my chin,
My belly button's caving in,
My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained,
My 'pendix pains each time it rains.
My nose is cold, my toes are numb.
I have a sliver in my thumb.

5. My neck is stiff, my voice is weak,
I hardly whisper when I speak.
My tongue is filling up my mouth,
I think my hair is falling out.
My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight,
My temperature is one-o-eight.
My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,
There is a hole inside my ear.
I have a hangnail, and my heart is-what?
What's that? What's that you say?
You say today is...Saturday?
G'bye, I'm going out to play! '