Little Free Library

JANICE:  On my early morning walks in our neighborhood I had long admired a fancy mailbox across the street at curbside. It looked like a miniature wooden house with a glass door, brown walls, and green polka dots. Since I assumed it was private, I had not taken a closer look. But one day curiosity lured me across the street, and I discovered that above the door was written, Little Free Library! And through the glass I saw books! The door had a flowered porcelain doorknob so I opened it and found a whole world. "Take a book, return a book," a sign said.


To my surprise I found a treasure, an old edition of Otto of the Silver Hand, written and illustrated by Howard Pyle and first published in 1888. I took it home to read. As a lover and author of children's books, I had read about this classic but had never seen a copy. This one is in near perfect condition, a beautifully designed book telling a sweet but violent story set in Germany during the Middle Ages. After Otto's mother dies in childbirth, his father, Baron Conrad, takes him to a nearby monastery to be raised by the monks. Otto is a gentle boy who at the age of twelve is suddenly thrust back into the violent world of the Baron when he comes for his son.

Howard Pyle is not only a fine storyteller, his pen and ink illustrations are powerful, like this one that shows the Baron bringing his wounded son back to the monastery. Pyle taught N.C. Wyeth who did full color illustrations for Robin Hood, Treasure Island, and other classics. It is easy to see Pyle's influence in Wyeth's illustration for The Boy's King Arthur, below.


Thank you, neighbors for the opportunity to read Otto of the Silver Hand. I shall return it as well as add some of my own books. Perhaps one day on a visit to your library I will meet you. Meanwhile I have discovered that there are Little Free Libraries all over the world with the purpose of creating communities that share books and reading. You can learn more on their website: www.littlefreelibrary.org

Immortality and the Memoir

JANICE:  Immortality. We all yearn for it, and one way to get it is by writing a memoir. As the saying goes, "Write yourself into existence." I decided to do just that.

I began by reading other people's memoirs. My favorite was Rosemary Sutcliff's Blue Remembered Hills. She is also the author of Eagle of the Ninth, a historical novel of Roman Britain that I keep on my desk at all times for inspiration.

Next I read books on writing a memoir, and the one that set me on fire was The Autobiographer's Handbook, edited by Jennifer Traig with an introduction by Dave Eggers. His first book, a memoir titled  A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He said, "You should write your story because you will someday die, and without your story on paper, most of it will be forgotten." The Handbook is like a panel discussion among expert memoirists on all the elements of writing an autobiography.

As with any creative project, the hardest part is beginning. But as Goethe said, "First you must begin and then the mind grows heated."

I think the best way to begin is not at the beginning but with a vivid memory of an event in your life. Write it down. Each day write a memory. Chronology doesn't matter, just write what comes to mind. Doing so will bring up more memories day after day. When you have emptied your memory bank, read through them and look for a theme to learn what your memoir is about. I found that my story was about searching for the life in me.

As I began to put the pieces of memories together, I felt the need to bring them alive with dialogue - not that I always remembered the exact words people spoke, but I remembered the event and the characters
involved, and I invented dialogue. Suddenly the memory came alive, dragged out of the past.

William Faulkner said, "The past is not dead. It is not even past." And with a memoir as with historical fiction, the past becomes the present. It took me a year to put memories together, then another year to get the book published. Now the story of my life from birth to Tom is told in a bound hardcover book. It's not for sale anywhere. I made it for family and friends so that my story would not be forgotten.

Becoming Alive  is a prequel to Honeymoon Hobos, the story of our yearlong trip around the world. For more about this travel memoir, which is available to the public, see my 2011 blogs on September 1st and 23rd.

I intend to continue my life story in a third memoir while continuing to write children's books. So now, back to work!

Rewards

JANICE:  Writing and illustrating books is hard but joyous work and has enormous rewards. The best reward of all is hearing about a reader relating to the story and being affected by it.

There are many other rewards and we recently had two. I was inducted into the august company of writers in the Texas Institute of Letters (TIL) They have decided that children's books are literature. Hooray!

Out of 15 new members I was the only writer for children. Each of us was asked to read from one of our books, and I chose I, Vivaldi. Tom stood beside me and showed his illustrations. If only the organization was called the Texas Institute of Letters and Illustrations (TILI), Tom would be a member too.

I must say those august writers seemed to enjoy our picture book biography. It is indeed a book for all ages.

Even better was our experience at the Texas Library Association Conference in Fort Worth. Tom and I donated an original illustration from I, Vivaldi titled "First Lesson." It was raffled off at $5 per ticket to raise money for the Texas Library Disaster Relief Fund. Fortunately and unfortunately it will be used to help libraries in West, Texas, recover from the recent explosion tragedy.

Tom drew the winning ticket onstage before 4000 enthusiastic librarians. The illustration was won by Willie Braudaway, a library consultant. Congratulations and farewell "First Lesson."

First  Lesson

After the drawing we were ushered to front row seats for Neil Gaiman's speech that he titled, "What the Very Bad Swear Word Is a Children's Book?" a charming, thought-provoking performance by the winner of the Newbery Award for The Graveyard Book.

During the conference Tom and I signed copies of I, Vivaldi in our publisher's booth, Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, with the help of editor Kathleen Merz. All very rewarding!

Love Story

JANICE:  We recently received a letter from a teacher in Pocatello, Idaho, that brought back warm memories of a school visit Tom and I made a few years ago. It turned into a love story between a boy who did not like to read and a book, between an author and illustrator and a reader, and between two cultures.

 Never could I have imagined what would happen when I answered a letter from a fifth grade Shoshone boy in Pocatello named Samuel. He said our three books about Young Wolf "are the first ones I loved." Could we please write another?


Yes, we could. We called the next book Son of Spirit Horse and dedicated it to Samuel as a surprise.

Then it was our turn to be surprised. Through Samuel's teacher, Kaye Turner, we were invited to Pocatello for an author-illustrator visit to schools in the city and on Fort Hall Reservation. There we met Samuel, his parents, grandmother, and great grandmother, matriarch of the family.

As a culmination to our visit we gave a public presentation at Idaho State University. Samuel invited the tribal spiritual leader to play the drum and sing tribal songs as an opener for our program. After explaining the meaning, LeeJuan sang a song in Shoshone, paced by his drum, asking the Creator to bless the education of their young people and keep them on the "good road."

There is still hatred and prejudice between the Shoshone and whites in Idaho. Sadly, the Fort Hall Reservation had the highest suicide rate in the country. I had been told that the Shoshone never shared their language with whites. It is the only thing we have not taken from them. To ask how to say a word in Shoshone is to risk offending.

I decided to take the risk. After the drumming and songs, I began by saying "good evening" in every language I know bits of - Japanese, Italian, Greek, Spanish, French, German - as a way of introducing my theme of learning from other cultures rather than clashing with them. Then I asked if anyone knew how to say good evening in another language. LeeJuan spoke up and taught me the Shoshone words right there on the spot.

Todd (Father), Syrina (Mother), Samuel, Janice, Tom

So, here's to Samuel's future. May he stay on the good road. He did not like to read and now he does.  It is a thrill to be part of such a transformation. And it is a thrill to connect with another culture.

A Memorable Moment

JANICE:  On a school visit yesterday I had a memorable moment. After my presentation to the fourth grade classes, a teacher, Melissa, came up to me with tears in her eyes.
"I want to tell you a story if I can manage without crying."
"It doesn't matter — emotions are good," I said.
She nodded and began. "Your book, A Paradise Called Texas, changed my life forever."

I caught my breath. "How?"
"When I was in the fourth grade my mother died. Of course, I was devastated. My teacher said she wanted to read a book to me — just the two of us alone, day by day. The book was yours and from it I learned how Mina, a girl my age, dealt with grief when her mother died. I realized that my life would go on and I needed to make the best of it. And, thanks to you, I did."

We embraced and I, too, had tears in my eyes. To think that a book I wrote could have such a profound effect gave me goose bumps. What a responsibility we authors have to our readers.

Melissa went on to say that because her fourth grade teacher helped her through a traumatic experience, she decided to become a teacher herself. What a responsibility teachers have to students as well. Together teachers and writers of children's books can change the world.

Oh, Those Koreans!

JANICE:  Those Koreans know what they want. They are eager to introduce their children to the high culture of the world, including western classical music.

First a Korean publisher, Tomato House, bought foreign rights to publish our picture book biography,  I, Vivaldi, (Eerdmans, 2008) and did so beautifully.

So Tom and I were thrilled when they offered to publish our latest picture book,  I, Papa Haydn, even though it has not been published in English. We won't be able to read my words, but as Tom says, "Pictures tell the story no matter what the language."

He is busy painting the final illustrations. Here is a double page spread showing young Joseph Haydn coming into Vienna where he will sing in the boys' choir at St. Stephens Cathedral.

And here Joseph and his teacher, Master Reuter, arrive at the Cathedral.

Publishing date is December, 2013. Thank you, Tomato House. We love you. And who knows, maybe an American publisher will purchase foreign rights to publish the book in English!

Nueces River Massacre

JANICE:  The Treue der Union Monument in Comfort, Texas, may be the only Union memorial in the South. It is the burial place of thirty-four German immigrants who died in the Nueces River Massacre during the Civil War for their loyalty to the Union and their refusal to fight for slavery. They were on the right side.

In August of 1862 some sixty German Texans from Comfort and surroundings decided to flee to Mexico and from there to New Orleans where they could join the Union Army. Confederate soldiers followed and, with a full moon still in the sky, attacked their camp on the Nueces River. Thirty-four Germans were killed, including prisoners, and their bodies left to rot in the August sun. After the war was over their bones were brought back to Comfort for burial.

Tom and I recently traveled to Comfort to attend the 150th Anniversary of the Nueces River Massacre and to sign our book, Sophie's War, a historical novel based on this tragedy.

Sophie's father is a political cartoonist who expresses his Unionist views in a San Antonio newspaper. Since Texas has seceded from the Union, his life is in danger. Sophie pleads with him to keep his opinions to himself. But he refuses, saying, "That is why we left Germany – so we could be free to say what we think." Sophie must find a way to save her family.

And we must find a way to have peace on earth. As T.R. Fehrenbach said in a previous ceremony at the Treue der Union Monument, "Will we never learn that violence solves nothing."