Publishers Weekly has excerpts from a book, Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children's Book, that answers the question asked of various public figures: what children's book changed the way you see the world? PW excerpted the comments from public figures associated with the creation of books for young people, including Maurice Sendak and Beverly Cleary.

Maurice Sendak says:

Crockett Johnson's Harold and the Purple Crayon is just immense fun. Harold does exactly as he pleases. There are no adults to demonstrate or remonstrate. The book comes out of a particular theory of children's books: Just let the kid do his own thing; let him have fun....

The children's book publishing figures excerpted include: Peter Sís, Leonard Marcus, Maurice Sendak, Beverly Cleary, Wendell Minor, David Macaulay, Thacher Hurd, Eric Rohmann, Marc Brown, and Eden Ross Lipson.