Books captivated me when I discovered them as a preschooler. I was so enthralled by them that later every six weeks when I was in the fifth and sixth grades, the teacher comments on my report cards always said, “Jennifer reads too many library books.”
How could that be possible?
I’ve decided what those early teachers really meant was I didn’t study enough because I was always reading “library books.”
As an adult, a writer and a reader, I’ve found some of those first books and purchased copies for my collection. The Sailor Dog by Margaret Wise Brown; Seven Little Postmen, also by Margaret Wise Brown and The Little Golden Book of Hymns. In fact all of these were Little Golden Books. When I began school later, I made one of the best discoveries of my life — books could be ordered through the Weekly Reader Book Club, and they would be delivered to my desk at school. My first mail-order purchase was Blue Willow, a Newbery Honor book by Doris Gates.
It would be much later until I knew the importance of the author names and their honors. I was privileged to work with children’s authors and illustrators, many of whom were significant award winners, and they just fueled the flames for my love of reading books.
And as an adult, I’ve thought about why these childhood books played such a significant role in my life. The very things that drew me to those books have guided my life’s direction. Always trying to find his place in life, Scuppers the Sailor Dog enjoyed great adventures. Though these adventures were sometimes harrowing, I always felt Scuppers was safe and happy in his journey.
The Seven Little Postmen delivered a special letter from a little boy to his grandmother, and it revealed all the other deliveries along the way. I particularly remembered the picture of the postmen sorting the mail on the train as it made it’s way “through the gloom of night.” I found it exciting to be up and about while the world slept. And then, there is the bond between grandson and grandmother, something I understood well.
The Golden Book of Hymns, as one would guess, spoke to the spiritual self of a young child, especially two of the hymns: “Jesus Loves Me” and “I’ll Be a Sunbeam.”
Like Janey Larkin in Blue Willow, but for different reasons, my family moved around a lot. Such moving created challenging situations and emotions for me. While my world enlarged considerably because of that, I’ve always wanted a place to call home, friends who have known me since before we started school. Janey and I understood each other. And, in today’s world where books can be ordered and delivered through myriad sources, some instantaneous, I’m a seasoned veteran. More than 50 years after my first mail order book, Blue Willow, I still get a thrill when a book arrives.
And all my life, this is what books have done for me. Their words transported me beyond myself to places, ideas, experiences, people and thoughts I might never have encounter otherwise. While I might have studied my school textbooks more, I’m not sure I would have learned more or experienced more.
All of this led me to seek my fortune in the world of words.
Like Scuppers the Sailor Dog being where he wants to be — a sailor sailing the deep green sea — I found my place navigating the world of words and putting 26 letters into words. No wonder my career has focused on communicating through making letters into words and putting those words on paper.
I have written a lot of them for various reasons and markets during my career in communications. My writing has been and continues to be varied in subject, format and audiences. Massaging and distilling information into a form that communicates is what I enjoy. And I enjoy seeing it in print. Whatever the fascination, it continues to engulf me.
I’m now focusing on writing nonfiction — often historical — books by finding good stories, pulling together elusive information from a variety of sources and trying to communicate that information by making it engaging and appealing for the reading world.
I hope you enjoy books as much as I do.
I hold a bachelor of arts with majors in journalism and English and a minor in history from the University of Mississippi. My formal communications career has been spent in book publishing, bookselling and higher education. I have written freelance articles for a variety of magazines devoted to an equally wide variety of subjects.
I have moved numerous times, living in small towns and large cities. Having a child gave me an excuse to have cats and dogs as pets “for him.” Since the first one when he was three-years-old, we have had a succession of them, most named for the Peanuts characters. The son is an adult, on his own, but we still have a cat and a dog. They, along with my reading and writing occupy most of my time.
And all my life, this is what books have done for me. Their words transported me beyond myself to places, ideas, experiences, people and thoughts I might never have encounter otherwise. While I might have studied my school textbooks more, I’m not sure I would have learned more or experienced more.
All of this led me to seek my fortune in the world of words.
Like Scuppers the Sailor Dog being where he wants to be — a sailor sailing the deep green sea — I found my place navigating the world of words and putting 26 letters into words. No wonder my career has focused on communicating through making letters into words and putting those words on paper.
I have written a lot of them for various reasons and markets during my career in communications. My writing has been and continues to be varied in subject, format and audiences. Massaging and distilling information into a form that communicates is what I enjoy. And I enjoy seeing it in print. Whatever the fascination, it continues to engulf me.
I’m now focusing on writing nonfiction — often historical — books by finding good stories, pulling together elusive information from a variety of sources and trying to communicate that information by making it engaging and appealing for the reading world.
I hope you enjoy books as much as I do.
I hold a bachelor of arts with majors in journalism and English and a minor in history from the University of Mississippi. My formal communications career has been spent in book publishing, bookselling and higher education. I have written freelance articles for a variety of magazines devoted to an equally wide variety of subjects.
I have moved numerous times, living in small towns and large cities. Having a child gave me an excuse to have cats and dogs as pets “for him.” Since the first one when he was three-years-old, we have had a succession of them, most named for the Peanuts characters. The son is an adult, on his own, but we still have a cat and a dog. They, along with my reading and writing occupy most of my time.