From: The Fertig Family <susanhep>
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 10:44:43 -0400

The schools I've worked with love the Richard C. Owen autobiographies. Me, too. I've worked with first graders reading Henry and Mudge books and then have gone with them to find and read Rylant's book to see parallels with her life and that of Henry. They're always amazed and delighted to see the creator of books they love and they pick up right away on rural settings, quiet moments, calm, a (then) young and independent son, a valuing of family and the natural world, and of course the dogs. Polacco, Yolen, Pringle and Bunting each reveal themselves in such different ways and in such ways consonant with the flavor and content of their books that I think kids can pick up on this with ease. I like, too, the emphasis on the process of being an adult writer--fun, hard, time-taking, but rewarding--all the same things that young writers discover, too. I also like Pat Cummings' "Talking with Artists", now into volume 3. But one of my all-time favorite autobiographies I discovered after reading L. M. Boston's Green Knowe series and then getting my hands on her wonderful "Memory in a House"--I still get goosebumps remembering her tearing out a wall surrounding a tiny fireplace and discovering a huge walk-in Norman one in what turned out to be the oldest continually inhabited house in Britain. And in what also turned out to be "Green Knowe."

Susan Hepler 2602 Valley Drive Alexandria, VA 22302 Susanhep at erols.com
Received on Tue 20 Apr 1999 09:44:43 AM CDT