Meet Munsch

Robert Munsch

Robert Munsch

Long before he started writing books, Robert Munsch was a storyteller. The first time he told his stories to a group of children was in 1972, when he was a student teacher at a nursery school. The children liked his stories, so he started telling them more often. He would often take the same story and tell it again and again, changing it a little bit each time, until it got to be really good. Kids liked how loud and animated he was while he told them stories, so he kept doing that, too. This would become his signature storytelling style.

Eventually, once his stories got really, really good, he wrote them down and sent them to a publisher. The publisher said “Yes!” to the story that became the book Mud Puddle. Today, nearly 100 Robert Munsch books have been published. Some, like Love You Forever, became runaway international bestsellers. Some, like The Paper Bag Princess and Zoom!, challenge conventions and stereotypes. But nearly ALL of them are based on real kids that Robert Munsch has met, often on his tours and travels. Sometimes, as in Finding Christmas and Pyjama Day!, he even uses his own family. Each book is dedicated to the kid or kids it is based on. You can find out more about the story behind each book by clicking on the “About this story” buttons on this website.

While Robert Munsch has countless fans across North America (he receives about 10,000 letters a year!) his books are also popular around the world. His books have sold more than 87 million copies and have been published in 31 countries/territories and 50 languages, including 22 Indigenous languages and dialects. Robert Munsch has received many awards for his work as an author and storyteller. He has a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame, the Order of Canada, and schools named in his honour! He has been nominated three times for the prestigious international Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Robert Munsch was even once a kid himself. He grew up in a large family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Now that he’s grown up he has three grown-up kids of his own, and three grandchildren!

Robert Munsch is no longer telling stories to kids at schools, but he has written many, many stories that will someday become new books.

Questions Kids Ask:

Please send your letters to me at this address:

Robert Munsch
c/o Scholastic Canada Ltd
2 Bloor Street West, Suite 401
Toronto, Ontario M4W 3E2
CANADA

I started writing so I would remember my stories.

The first story I made up was Mortimer. My first book was Mud Puddle.

Well, I didn't start by writing at all. I started by telling stories in a daycare centre and I told stories for kids for 10 years before I ever wrote any down. Finally my boss told me to write them down, so I did. Then he told me to send them to publishers, and I did. Actually, I was glad he told me to write them down and send them to publishers because I had been meaning to do that for 10 years, but I just never got around to it.

I sent out 10 stories and one of them got a "yes" and nine of them got a "no."

I started telling stories when I was 25.
I started writing when I was 35.
I got published when I was 36.

I started writing because friends of mine kept saying that I TOLD very good stories.

Some days I do not work at all and some days I work all day and even at night. So it changes a lot.

I get my stories funny by telling them to kids till they get funny. If they don't get funny, I stop telling them.

This is a very good question, because I don't mean to write funny books. It just happens that when I tell stories, the stories are always funny. Even when I try to make them not funny they end up being funny. So, why does my brain work like that? I don't know. Maybe I just like to hear people laugh.

I think my books are popular because they are funny and are about things that kids really care about, like snowsuits and snot and teachers and underwear and junk food and hugs.

It's easy to start!
1. Write down your stories.
2. Play around with them till they get good.
3. Show them to your friends.
4. Send copies to everybody you know.
5. Maybe send them to publishers, but publishers sometimes just don't get it and send back really good stories, so you don't have to do this if you don't want to.

Well, I just keep making up stories. I have lots of stories that are not books yet.

I think my funniest story is I Have to Go.
I think my saddest story is... Well, I don't think I have a really sad story.

I became a writer so kids could hear my stories even if I was not telling them. I also hoped it would be fun, and it is.

I did not like to write in Grade 2. I did not even know how to make all my letters when I was in Grade 2.

I do not know what the best book I have written is. I just can't figure it out.

It takes me about two years to write a good story. Two years at least!

Some of the people I write about are in my family.
Julie in David’s Father and Makeup Mess.
Tyya in Something Good.
Andrew in Andrew’s Loose Tooth.
Julie, Tyya, Andrew, Ann (my wife) and I are all in Finding Christmas and Pyjama Day!

The kids in the other books are usually the kid I first made the story up for.

The kids in my books are real kids. So Temina (Too Much Stuff) and Leonardo (Class Clown) and Arie (Seeing Red) and Cheryl (Give Me Back My Dad!) are all real. I just use the names of real kids. Each name in each of my books is the name of the FIRST kid that I made the story up for. Some of the kids were all grown up by the time their stories got to be books!

Publisher note: Learn about the real kids behind each book by clicking on the “About the story” button on each book page

I don't plan story ideas. My stories grow by telling and I don't plan them in advance.

My favorite colour is black.
My favorite animal is an orange beetle.
A PROMISE IS A PROMISE is my most scary book.
I HAVE TO GO is my funniest book.
My favourite character is... ahhhh... ummm... I don't think I have a favourite character.

My favourite TV show is STAR TREK.

What is my favourite food? That is a hard question. Some people have the same favourite food forever, but I change my mind a lot.
Sometimes my favourite food is HOT CHICKEN WINGS.
Sometimes my favourite food is INDONESIAN LEMON GRASS AND COCONUT SOUP.
Sometimes my favourite food is RAW CARIBOU.
Sometimes my favourite food is HOME MADE VEGETABLE SOUP.
Sometimes my favourite food is NOTHING 'CAUSE I DON'T WANT TO EAT.

My favourite book of mine is Love You Forever (sometimes!).
My favourite kids' book not by me is Blueberries for Sal.
My favourite book with no pictures is Five Families.

We don’t have a pet right now. We used to have a black poodle named Cinder. You can find illustrations of Cinder in the books Finding Christmas and Makeup Mess.

I live in Guelph, Ontario, Canada OR Canada, Ontario, Guelph.
It is near Toronto and Lake Ontario and Niagara Falls.

I LOVE living in Canada.

Bob Munsch or Robert Munsch or Robert Norman Peter Maria Munsch is my real name and it always has been. I know it is a weird name but IT IS MY NAME AND I LIKE IT.

I have eight brothers and sisters:
Mary
Margy
Tommy
Bobby <-----me
Dickie
Billy
Jimmy
Jackie
Kate

The ABSOLUTELY NEATEST thing I have ever done is being alive.

I was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, on June 11, 1945. Anyway, that is what my mom and dad told me. I don't remember it myself.

I like being famous because I like it when people know me and think that I am neat because I write books. Actually, I am sort of a boring person even though I write neat books and it is nice that people think I am neat even though I (and not my stories) am boring. At least my daughter Tyya says I am boring.

I love to fish, even though I am a lousy fisherman.