Jennifer Sattler is the award-winning author and illustrator of numerous children's books, including the new board books Dirty Birdies and Jungle Gym, as well as the picture book Sylvie, and the Pig Kahuna and the Chick 'n' Pug series. She lives in upstate New York, where she delights in embarrassing her children and having meaningful conversations with her dog. Her new book, Bully, was just published by Sleeping Bear.On your nightstand now:
I always have a book going, but the problem is they start to blend into one giant novel--my memory is terrible, so they all mush together. Lately, though, I've read a few that really stuck out and I hated putting them down: Made for Love by Alissa Nutting, The Idiot by Elif Batuman, The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer and The Nix by Nathan Hill.
Favorite book when you were a child:
Without a doubt it was anything by Dr. Seuss. If I had to pick a favorite of his, it would be Yertle the Turtle. When I was in middle school, I learned all the things that the grown-ups wouldn't tell me from Judy Blume... thank God for her!
Your top five authors:
That's a tough one. Since I write/illustrate children's books, I'll go with my favorite children's book authors: Sandra Boynton, Mo Willems, Peggy Rathmann, Emily Hughes and Quentin Blake.
Book you've faked reading:
I've gotta say, life is too short to fake read anything. That said, when I was in middle school, I'm sure I fake read a lot of things. I definitely fake read The Red Badge of Courage. It's amazing to me that educators still make kids read that book when the amount of incredible YA books out there that kids would love has never been higher.
Book you've bought for the cover:I can tell you a book I picked up despite the cover: Made for Love (which I mentioned earlier). Every time I recommend it to people I say, "don't be thrown by the cover! It'll make sense after you read it."
Book you hid from your parents:
Forever... by Judy Blume. Didn't we all? I know the copy I had was passed around the whole sixth grade.
Book that changed your life:
Hippos Go Berserk! by Sandra Boynton
Favorite line from a book:
There's a part in Tina Fey's book Bossypants (which I not only read a couple of times, but bought a couple of times) in which, instead of trying to fit into impossible ideals, she takes a personal inventory of all of the healthy body parts she's grateful for. My favorite one is: "Droopy brown eyes designed to confuse predators into thinking I'm just on the verge of sleep and they should come back tomorrow to eat me."
Five books you'll never part with:
Ugh! These are hard questions. People make fun of how many books we have in the house because I cannot part with them. You want me to pick five? I've been asked to "reduce the amount of books I have" before. I won't do it!
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
That's the beauty of having a bad memory! I reread books all the time. All I remember is that I loved it and then I get to reread it and it's almost like reading it the first time. I've reread Geek Love by Katherine Dunn and Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris several (and I mean more than three) times.