Robert Fulghum

• Be aware of wonder. Live a balanced life—learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.

• Don’t worry that children never listen to you. Worry that they are always watching you.

• I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge—that myth is more potent than history. I believe that dreams are more powerful than facts—that hope always triumphs over experience—that laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death.

• If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you got a problem. Everything else is inconvenience.

• If you want an interesting party sometime, combine cocktails and a fresh box of Crayolas for everybody.

• The grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence. Fences have nothing to do with it. The grass is greenest where it is watered. When crossing over fences, carry water with you and tend the grass wherever you may be.

• The world does not need tourists who ride by in a bus clucking their tongues. The world as it is needs those who will love it enough to change it, with what they have, where they are.

• It will be a great day when our schools have all the money they need, and our air force has to have a bake-sale to buy a bomber.

ADDRESS: The Leigh Bureau

PHONE: (908) 253-8600

(908) 253-8601 (fax number)

WEBSITE: www.robertfulghum.com

There is only one place to start with Robert Fulghum, and that is with his book, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, a wonderful adventure in reading and insight. I would best describe Fulghum as a modern day Buddha. The premise of the book is defined by its title. Fulghum takes the wisdom we were taught when we were little children—“Play fair. Don’t hit people. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.”—and expands on it, showing us how he himself applied these principles during his life.

Fulghum is part philosopher, part teacher, part minister, and part student. An example of this can be found in one of the passages and recommendations from his book. Fulghum writes:

Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A Beauty Bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one first—before we tried anything else. It would explode high in the air—explode softly—and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth—boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn’t go cheap, either—not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination instead of death. A child who touched one wouldn’t have his hand blown off.

All in all, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten lets you relive parts of your life and see it again from a simpler perspective. Try to pick up the new and revised 15th anniversary edition.

There are currently two stage productions based on Robert Fulghum’s books. These original works were adapted by Ernest Zulia with original scores by David Caldwell. Entitled All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten and Uh-Oh, Here Comes Christmas, they are available for licensing through Dramatic Publishing (www.dramaticpublishing.com).