When
I examine my love for learning alongside my writing aspirations I notice a
through-line—a preoccupation with curiosity. To write for children is a
privilege, and I feel dually obligated to use this opportunity not to preach
what I already know, but to ask questions about what I don't.
My
inspiration comes from many places, but in particular, weekend afternoons spent
at my grandmother’s house as a child remain as vivid to me as her swirling
works of watercolor—delightful rainbow canvases that now adorn my bedroom walls.
Her modest home was just around the street corner from the conservative St.
Louis temple she attended every Sabbath.
Week after week, rain or shine, my
sisters and I marched to grandma’s after long mornings spent in Sunday School.
Though
my Iowa-bred mother had long since ditched a second set of dishes for keeping
kosher, my grandmother held tight to the Jewish tradition.
Each
Sunday at noon, Grandma gleefully announced that day’s lunch menu. Sometimes it
was tuna croquettes that she embellished with sprigs of parsley; other times, she
dished tough slabs of cow tongue from the slow cooker onto our plates. We drank
iced tea from tall, gold rimmed glasses, but never had milk with our meat. 'Isn’t
this delicious?' my grandma always cooed, complimenting her own cooking before
we even took that first bite.
There
was something so comforting about having this weekly ritual. It always played
out the same way: my grandmother insisting the food was delicious, and sharing
stories of her art group’s successes. She was a creature of habit, and this
trait of imperfect predictability was something my husband insists she passed
down to me. Rise at 4 am for calisthenics,
have coffee, check stock portfolio balance. Though a creative soul, my grandma
was fiercely independent and money savvy. Teaching herself about financial
markets was as much a part of her life as knitting, and making paper from dryer
lint. Ask questions, execute—become an expert! This, in a nutshell, was my
grandmother’s credo.
It
makes sense that, growing up in a Jewish family, I was taught to analyze
everything. This, after all, is the cornerstone of Jewish faith—scholarly
rabbis famously sought answers in the Talmud. As I grew into adulthood, I
realized this inquisitiveness was a cornerstone of Jewish faith, and when I had
children of my own, I welcomed their questions. Books filled our shelves from
floor to ceiling. I considered reading with them the ultimate joy. Fiction or non-fiction,
fifty pages or 500, I told them the answers to life lie somewhere between our
local library and their endless imaginations.
Three
years ago, I came across an article in Tablet Magazine about a small bear named
Paddington and his brilliant creator, Michael Bond. As I read about the inspiration
for Paddington—Kindertransport children arriving in London during World War II—I
felt compelled to learn more about this literary hero who’d left a mark on my
heart as a child. Lifting the stones to find the real story beneath the bear
has been a rewarding journey since.
One
of the hardest and most important things for a children’s author to do is
expose their own fallibility, by posing questions without concrete answers. Was
the congenial Michael Bond selfish with his writing time, or were his books worth
any hardship to his family? From an outside perspective, I’d say the latter is
mostly true.
Fred
Rogers once said that kids can spot a phony from a mile away. Like Rogers, Bond
was the genuine article. As was his beloved gift to the world, Paddington Bear.
While studying law abroad in London, she subsisted mainly on a diet of tea and toast, and frequented Paddington Station. An experienced and well-respected journalist, she has focused her work primarily on children's publications. She was the former creator and editor of an ALA notable children's website, managing editor of Guideposts for Kids magazine, and a Hoosier State Press Award-winning features writer. When not writing, she can be found hiking with her dogs in the Indiana Dunes National Park. Her middle grade book debut MORE THAN MARMALADE: Michael Bond and the Story of Paddington Bear (Chicago Review Press) was released on 3 March, 2020.
