I still get recognized for 'Labyrinth' by little girls in the weirdest places. I can't believe they still recognize me from that movie. It's on TV all the time, and I guess I pretty much look the same.
My husband and I like to reminisce about how, when we were 9, we read straight through L. Frank Baum's 'Oz' series, books filled with wizards and witches. And you know what those subversive tales taught us? That we loved to read!
Before my teens, my contemporaries were reading Tolkien and were absorbed by his works, but try as I might, I could not be drawn in, perhaps as something in me resists the epic, medieval-feeling fantasy.
I will not cut my film because, because, because, because of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Oh, when I was a kid, I was raised up with all the Disney classics.
Whenever Disney asks if you want to do a fairy tale musical, you say yes.
I was big into mythology when I was a kid - Arthurian legends and Greek mythology, that was kind of my passion. I hadn't heard of the books, but I was told they were very popular amongst the kids, so I got a hold of them and read them. I totally got it!
I didn't really distinguish between genre and not-genre as a kid, until I made the transition to adult fantasy via Terry Brooks.
'Harry Potter' opened so many doors for young adult literature. It really did convince the publishing industry that writing for children was a viable enterprise. And it also convinced a lot of people that kids will read if we give them books that they care about and love.
