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Quote by Maira Kalman

“I read obituaries first thing in the morning. With a cup of coffee. This is NOT MORBID. Just epic. Maybe it's a way of trying to figure out, before the day begins, what is important. And I am curious about all the little things that make up life. Little?”

Quote by Maira Kalman

Author

Maira Kalman
Maira Kalman

Maira Kalman is an American illustrator, writer, and photographer. Known for her unique visual style and sense of humor, her work spans a variety of formats from children's books to adult literature. Her illustrations often appear in The New Yorker, and are celebrated for their distinctive perspective and observations of everyday life. more

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“I became interested in librarians while researching my first book, about obituaries. With the exception of a few showy eccentrics, like the former soldier in Hitler's army who had a sex change and took up professional whistling, the most engaging obit subjects were librarians. An obituary of a librarian could be about anything under the sun, a woman with a phenomenal memory, who recalled the books her aging patrons read as children—and was also, incidentally, the best sailor on her stretch of the Maine coast—or a man obsessed with maps, who helped automate the Library of Congress's map catalog and paved the way for wonders like Google Maps.”

“Children are tender plants, rooted in the soil of their families. If they are only given pampering, like constant water and rich humus, they may grow wild and tangled with weeds. Schools, like gardeners, carefully prune and shape them, guiding their growth. In stony soil—strict or broken family—their growth may be stunted, but schools provide a fence of protection, nurturing them with love and compassion.”