Children

• Roger Ebert says, "I was born at the center of the universe, and have had good fortune for all of my days. The center was located at the corner of Washington and Maple streets in Urbana, Ill., a two-bedroom white stucco house with green canvas awnings, evergreens and geraniums in front and a white picket fence enclosing the back yard."

Of course, he has many stories about growing up there: 1) He and his family ate meal loaf and green beans sometimes at a diner, but he remembers his first meal at a real restaurant: a Steak 'n' Shake, where his father ordered a hamburger for him. Young Roger said, "But I don't like ham." His father replied, "You'll like this ham." 2) In the basement of his home, young Roger operated his own small business: the Roger Ebert Stamp Company. He would sell "approvals" to a few customers who responded to his ten-cent advertisements in small stamp magazines. One day a couple of men came to his house, saying that they wanted to see his wares and might buy a few stamps. Young Roger took them to the basement and showed them his "approvals," but the men didn't buy anything. His father walked in as the men walked out and asked, "What did those men want?" He then said, "Their car said Department of Internal Revenue." 3) Roger's father was an electrician who worked at the University of Illinois. Lots of fathers let their sons see them do their work, and lots of sons end up doing the same kind of work that their fathers do. Roger's father never let Roger see him doing electrical work. Instead, he said, "Boy, I don't want you to become an electrician. I was working in the English Building today, and I saw those fellows with their feet up on their desks, smoking their pipes and reading their books. That's the job for you."

• Tiger Woods' father, Earl, started playing golf just a couple of years before Tiger was born, but he loved the game. In the garage, he would hit plastic balls into a net. He used to take the 6-month-old Tiger to the garage, put him in a high chair, and let him watch as he hit plastic balls. This went on for four months, and then Tiger wanted a chance to hit a ball. Tiger picked up a plastic putter and hit the ball into the net — although he could hardly walk. Earl says, "I knew then and there that he was something special." He was indeed. When he was 18 months old, he was hitting tee shots at a driving range and putting on a practice green. When he was two years old, he telephoned his dad every day at work to see if they could play golf together. When he was 4 years old, he got a pro coach. When he was 5 years old, someone asked him for his autograph. And by the time he had his 6th birthday, he had hit a hole in one.

• George Orwell (the author of "Animal Farm" and "1984") and his wife, Eileen, adopted a 3-week-old boy in June of 1944. Mr. Orwell's real name was Eric Blair, so they named the boy Richard Horatio Blair. After his wife died, Mr. Orwell raised the boy on the island of Jura so he would be away from the city. There, Mr. Orwell let the boy learn from his mistakes. For example, young Richard found a tobacco pipe in the garden and filled it with cigarette butts that he took from the fireplace. Mr. Orwell saw him do this, and he handed young Richard his lighter. In a letter, Mr. Orwell reported on the result of young Richard's attempt at smoking: "I'm sorry to say that Richard took to smoking recently, but he made himself horribly sick and that has put him off it."

• Wally and his wife have two sons: one is 3 years old and the other is 5 years old. Being kids, and being boys, they sometimes say outrageous things. At dinner the 3-year-old said, "I don't like these noodles—they taste like rotten skin." (The 5-year-old, a big eater, readily ate the noodles.) The 3-year-old, who is a fan of the violent comic-book character Wolverine, also said, "I am Wolverine, and I chop this bad-guy's face into a bloody stump." Wally's wife was shocked: "WHAAAAAT!" The 5-year-old happily replied, "HAHAHA, BLOODY STUMP, BLOODY STUMP!" Although the kids say funny things, Wally's wife had the funniest line, which she delivered with a big sigh: "I wanted daughters soooo badly."

• For one of his televised "Young People's Concerts," conductor Leonard Bernstein presented Benjamin Britton's "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra." He needed a child to narrate, and he settled on the young son of his friend Schuyler Chapin: Henry. Henry did a fine job, and he grew up and taught music to young children at a school in New York. Once, he showed his pupils the "Young People's Concert" that he had narrated. The children liked the program, but one girl asked who was "that nerdy kid who spoke the words." Henry confessed that he had been the nerdy kid, and the children applauded him.

• According to actor Brad Pitt, his children are "the funniest people I've ever met." For example, in 2008 his daughter Shiloh went through a phase where she wanted to be called by another name: John or Peter Mr. Pitt calls it "a Peter Pan thing" where whenever he starts to call her by her real name she responds, "I'm John." Of course, Mr. Pitt is right when he says that this stuff is "cute to parents" and he is wrong when he says that this stuff is "probably really obnoxious to other people." It's actually pretty cute to other people.

• Children's book author Lois Lowry, a two-time winner of the Newbery Medal, learned to read early. When she was three years old, children in her nursery class did such things as pretend to be elephants, swinging their arms in front of them as if they were elephant trunks. This embarrassed young Lois, who much preferred to sit in a corner and read a book while the other children played those games.