Certainly we want to protect our children from new and painful experiences that are beyond their emotional comprehension and that intensify anxiety; and to a point we can prevent premature exposure to such experiences.
Maurice Sendak's acceptance speech upon being awarded the Caldecott Medal for "Where the Wild Things Are" (1964), as quoted in "Newbery and Caldecott Medal Books: 1956-65" edited by Lee Kingman, 1965.
