Today, Talbert has those books in his own library and he reads them to his daughters, Molly and Jessie.
"I remember a lot of the Greek myths, too, from the Childcraft Books," Talbert stated in the interview. "They were wonderful--they were always bordering on being naughty because of what the gods got away with and all the games they played, how nasty they were, and how they were actually grown-up people. It was interesting to see Zeus with his beard and all the other gods doing very childish things." The author acknowledged that these myths almost certainly influenced his work as a novelist. "I think that myth and myth-like stories boil the basic human issues down and make them accessible. . . . Myths try to confront fear, unfairness, cruelty, and death." Talbert also noted the value of fairy tales in clarifying life for young readers: "I can't think of anything more direct in showing kids all these different things than the Grimm fairy tales. You don't just kill the witch once. You kill her and then you boil her in oil, then you chop her into bits. You kill her many times.
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