By Cedar Pruitt
Somewhere between my maroon corduroy pants and gray and white striped sweater is propped an ancient greeting card. My clean laundry sits folded and stacked on the shelf next to this ragged, treasured piece of paper that I read every morning while getting dressed. It was never sent or received. I’m pretty sure I bought it, but I don’t remember when or where.
I’ve had it for a long time.
It’s entirely possible I’ve had it for 30 years, since I was just 18, as the yellowed thumbtack holes bring to mind a wall-bound bulletin board in a college dorm.
In this age of framed motivational slogans and glossy affirmation cards, one shabby card has opened my days and closed my nights for decades. And I think it guides me in writing nonfiction for children, too.
“Don’t let
your hearts grow numb. Stay alert. It is your soul which matters.”
-Albert Schweitzer
And it’s not just the quote. There’s also an image. Which is good. Were it just those words on a page, I think I might get distracted by the possibilities of the word ‘soul.’ But a benefit of being raised Buddhist is that I’ve always had a loose and trusting relationship with that word, and when I look at the picture – a black and white image of little girl fiercely hugging a cat, the wind gently blowing her hair, fully alive and loving as she buries her face in that fur –I know exactly what the quote means.
We’re all connected, and it’s our connection that makes us human. It’s painful to stay alert, it takes vulnerability and precious energy, but it’s what matters most.
I think this card describes the journey of writing nonfiction, and the perils of willful ignorance. When we don’t try to understand the world around us, we can become numb to it, and closed off to what makes us uniquely and truly ourselves. Nonfiction is a way to dig into this vastly mysterious experience we’re all having together, on this thing we call a planet.
Children are naturally inquisitive – it is human nature, after all – and writing nonfiction that delights, surprises and engages them has the capacity to guide and shape their experience of the world and, therefore, of themselves. Could there be a more thrilling, humbling opportunity? One of the joys of being a nonfiction author is getting a front-row seat to see the sheer effort that writers, illustrators, agents, editors, art directors, publishers, booksellers, teachers, librarians and more all pour into bringing this dream to life.
It’s as if they all know that kids deserve creative, fun, fresh and interesting work that inspires them to lean into their curiosity, embrace their humanity, and, above all, to stay alert.
Does everyone have a greeting card stuck somewhere that makes them
want to help children keep growing, learning and wanting to understand the
world? I don’t know. All I know is:
Don’t let your hearts grow numb.
Cedar Pruitt is an author based
in Massachusetts. Her lyrical nonfiction picture book, FIRE FLIGHT: A Wildfire Escape, illustrated by Chiara Fedele (Capstone Editions, 2024), explores climate change and
ecological connection through an owl’s real-life flight out of a California
wildfire and into the co-pilot seat of a firefighting helicopter.
Her second lyrical nonfiction picture
book, WHAT MARCEL FOUND: The
Incredible Discovery of the Lascaux Cave Paintings, illustrated by David Litchfield, is about brave kids in occupied France whose forest search for
treasure during WWII led to an astounding discovery that forever changed our
view of humanity (Beach Lane Books/Simon & Schuster, 2026).
Learn more about Cedar, her
books and author visits at CedarPruitt.com.