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Of the numerous beloved people from pop culture (books, movies, TV, music) I’ve interviewed over the last few years, three seem to generate more engagement than the rest (by which I mean more comments on the blog and more emails to me):

• Danny Janssen (Scooby-Doo)
• Mick Smiley (Ghostbusters)
• Edward Ormondroyd (David and the Phoenix)

“Twyla and the Phoenix”

Singed by the flame
Wings spread anew
Rising in the air
Proud Phoenix
No more cowering in the shadows
You dance alive in the flames

Weakened by the emergence
But not for long
Fueled by the strength
The strength in her song

Songs compiled by the old tunes
In her head
Losing the fear
Forgetting the dread

Be proud Phoenix
You’ve begun anew
The embers are dying
That gave birth to you

Singed by the flames
Forged by the fire
Hope in the wingspan
Lifting from the pyre.

—Twyla Olsen (4/28/90)

On perhaps the most appropriate day for rebirth, January 1, I heard from an educator named Twyla Olsen.

The poem almost wrote itself. It appeared to me one evening sitting at the computer and in response to an English class assignment. I was a re-entry student at age 38, feeling both fear and excitement as I returned to school. This is when I first began experiencing the memory, power, and influence of a book I had read in 2nd grade.

 

Have you had something—a book, a poem or a myth that you read when you were very young—stay with you, guiding you throughout your life, reappearing exactly when you needed it? That’s what the book David and the Phoenix has been for me. 

It is amazing that the theme of this book that I read over 50 years ago as a child would impact my adult life in so many ways. 

[Soon after] I wrote the poem, I realized that it [had come] almost fully formed from my memory and impressions of Edward Ormondroyd’s book. But what evoked the memory? 

“Twyla could work harder if she tried and [could] receive better grades,” said Mrs. Hunt in 3rd grade. I was and have always been a creative thinker and given to daydreaming in class. Mrs. Hunt didn’t understand that my mind was full of images that I had no way of communicating to her. When I read, the world came alive with my mind’s pictures and David’s Phoenix was a powerful image.

I was curious when I wrote my Phoenix poem as an adult. Why had Mr. Ormondroyd’s book been dormant but still alive inside me for so long? Maybe it was the adventure of education. After writing the poem, I thought how amazing it would be if I could tell the author about this poem. I wanted to let him know how this book had captivated my young mind and at this unexpected moment suddenly reappeared! Unable to find any contact information for him, I went on about my life.

Fast forward to today. I began to work on a project persuading funders in education to remember how important the humanities and the arts are to a well-rounded education.  After all, I was living evidence that we cannot put imagination and creativity on a spreadsheet. We may not know how exposure to the arts will inspire or guide a student down the road. But I know deep down that without art, literature, and visualization, my own life experiences and career as an educator would have been far less colorful, and certainly less creative.

Doing research for this important presentation led me to your blog. I was amazed that you had interviewed Mr. Ormondroyd, and that the opportunity for me to share my poem with the author of David and the Phoenix was still a possibility! It was a chapter called “In Which Twyla Finds Marc on the Internet and Her Dream Comes True.”

Sharing my poem with Mr. Ormondroyd was life coming full circle and could very well indicate [the beginning of an auspicious] New Year.

At the Knoxville Children’s Festival of Reading on 5/18/13, I received a most special gift.

Liza Martz, a fellow writer with whom I’d communicated online but not met in person, came to the festival. With that aforementioned gift.

I’ll let her describe it:
 

It was a book I kept with me all my life. I kept it next to my bed and read it when I felt scared, even as an adult. On 9/11/01, I went to a thrift store to hide from the horror if the day and found it in the book section for a dime. Even though I had my own copy I got it and have held onto it until I found the right person to give it to. It had to be someone who treasured the book as much as I did and still do. And you are that person. Phew. It finally has a good home!

Actually, that little icon here is a touch misleading, but I took it since it talks about our first news item of the day.  This l’il here ole blog got itself nominated for an Edublog Award, which is mighty nice.  SLJ wrote an article about me and my fellow nominees, Joyce Valenza’s NeverEndingSearch, Karyn Silverman and Sarah Couri’s Some Day My Printz Will Come, and Angela Carstensen’s Adult Books 4 Teens.  I’m in the Best Individual Blog category along with Joyce.  Let’s face it, though.  Joyce actually does discuss education on a regular basis (far more than I do), which is the point of the award as I see it.  Therefore, if you’d stop over and vote for her along with my other nominees (preferably before the 13th), I’d appreciate it.

• Speaking of accomplished folks getting noticed, our own Mary Ann Scheuer of Great Kid Books (I call her “our own” since she speaks at Kidlitosphere Conferences regularly) spoke on Boston’s NPR show Here & Now about book apps for kids.  Woman knows her stuff.

• Marjorie Ingall manages to locate two wall decals of infinite peculiarity.  One is just weird.  The other will undoubtedly be the bane of many a child’s life, possibly haunting them well into their adulthood.  Fun!

• So what, precisely, is up with that The Graveyard Book movie?  Waking Brain Cells has the skinny.

• Let’s chalk this next one up to Books for Adults That Look Like They’re For Kids.  I am speaking, naturally, about Honey Badger Don’t Care by Randall.  Oh, it may look like children’s fare, but if you’re familiar with the YouTube sensation (I only recently learned about it myself, so don’t feel bad if you haven’t seen it) then you’ve got the gist of the book.  Long story short, it has nothing to do with James Odone’s far sweeter picture book Honey Badgers.

• It’s one thing to find out that your childhood idol and author is still alive.  It’s another thing entirely to give that person the respect and honor they never found on his own.  Marc Tyler Nobleman
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Finding out that Edward Ormondroyd, author of the 1957 YA novel David and the Phoenix, was still with us (at age 86) was a highlight of my summer.

Contacting him and convincing him to let me interview him for my blog was as well.

Yet in terms of moving experiences, both turned out to be mere prologue to the Edward-related event that unfolded in Trumansburg, NY, on 12/2/11. I believe it is unprecedented in the known history of author visits at schools.

Like the fabled Phoenix of his book, Edward (as author) has risen again, and it didn’t require a pyre or fire of any kind.

In the interview, Edward said that, but for two “unofficial” (my term) exceptions, he never spoke in schools, as many children’s authors do today.

A humble and happy man, he didn’t say this with any discernible hint of regret or longing, but I saw an opportunity just the same.

By pure, freakish chance, at the same time I had been tracking down Edward, I was also booking an author visit at Trumansburg Elementary in Trumansburg, NY…which, I would soon learn, happens to be the town in which Edward lives.

Yet apparently, the fact that he is a published author is largely unknown among the townsfolk.

More broadly, David and the Phoenix remains beloved by certain adult readers yet largely unknown among the current generation.

I believed kids and Trumansburgians alike would be most interested in Edward’s books and in Edward himself.

So I asked Purple House Press, the exclusive publisher of David and the Phoenix, if they would discreetly donate copies of it to the school so the kids could take turns reading it in the

• “Jarrett Krosoczka is one of 25 hottest children’s authors in the nation.” So said Henderson City Mayor Andy Hafen when presenting Mr. Krosoczka with the key to the city.  I’ll just say that again.  The mayor of a city mentioned Jarrett being part of my old The Hot Men of Children’s Literature series when presenting him with that city’s key.  Geez o’ petes.  Looks like I’m going to have to restart that series one of these days (though I KNOW I did more than just twenty-five!).  Credit to The Las Vegas Review Journal for the image.

• In my children’s room we have two copies of Florence Parry Heide’s The Shrinking of Treehorn.  It is regularly requested throughout the system, though sometimes difficult to find thanks to its small size (it will occasionally meander over to our Little Books Shelf when it’s in a wandering mood).  Thus it was with sadness that I learned that Ms. Heide passed away recently at the age of 92.  We should all reread Treehorn (or any of her other works, for that matter) in her honor.

• Wow.  I am in awe.  Here we have a really amazing and worthwhile piece over at Teach Mentor Texts charting a teacher’s changing attitude towards Jon Klassen’s I Want My Hat Back.  From initial disgust to grudging appreciation to possible enjoyment.  It’s a testament to keeping an open mind after a first reading, and the amount of self-awareness at work here is amazing.  Folks sometimes tell me that my reviews of picture books are far too long, but I think this post makes it infinitely clear how there is to be said about the power of that format.

• Remember that picture book manifesto that aired recently?  Well at Fomagrams there’s a piece from David Elzey called of picture books and amnesiacs that gives that document a thorough once over.  Everything from the statement on “robust criticism” to the relative honesty or dishonesty of “tidy endings” is examined thoroughly.  Today I appear to be linking to posts from folks unafraid to use their brains.  A nice trend.

• Is 90% of everything crap?  Jonathan Hunt says so, sparking a variety of different comments from his regular readers.  Heavy Medal is always good for thoughts of this sort.  In fact, I recently decided that the site has given me a chance to examine my own personal Newbery book prejudices.  Prejudices, I would add, that most committee members share, but prejudices just the same.  More on that when I tally up the final predictions at the end of the year, of course.

• Speaking of the Newbery, is it a good or bad idea to find out as much as you can about a book before rendering a final decision about its worth?  I ask this because Jules recently had 6 Comments on Fusenews: “A sort of child’s Jane Eyre.”, last added: 11/2/2011