The Importance of Heroes

       This year I put up some framed 8 X 10s in my classroom. Seven pictures of seven of my heroes. (I have more, but I have limited wall space.)

        And they are:

John Reynolds Gardiner

      If you have not read his book--Stone Fox--a children's book that is only about 100 pages, you should run out right now and borrow it from the library or buy it. Every year I use it, I cry (even though I swear I won't cry this time). He spoke once to a group of teachers and confessed that when he sent it to his editor, there were 138 mistakes (spelling/grammatical). That proves to me that the power of the story is victorious over everything else.


Mae Jemison

        Mae Jemison was the first African American woman into space, which is incredibly impressive all by itself, but I look up to her more because of the little girl she used to be. One of her teachers (kindergarten? first grade?) asked the students what they wanted to be when they grew up. Mae said, "I want to be a doctor." Her teacher said, "Don't you mean nurse instead of a doctor? Don't you want to be a nurse instead?" Mae matter-of-factly replied, "No, I want to be a doctor."


       She became a doctor...and then an astronaut. So there!



         My other on-the-wall heroes are: Nikki Grimes, Jackie Robinson, Anne Lamott, Emily Dickinson and Jesse Owens. (I had trouble narrowing them down to seven and had to make sure all of them were appropriate for children. Otherwise Vince Gilligan would certainly have a place on the wall, but there is no way I could explain the exquisite beauty of Breaking Bad to eight-year olds. No way.) 

      As I'm writing this, I realize how many of my heroes are nose-thumbers. Perhaps not John Reynolds Gardiner, and I don't know about Nikki Grimes, but I imagine Anne Lamott has thumbed her nose at someone at some point in her life, and although he never did it in public, I'm hoping Jackie Robinson mentally made some gesture with a finger or thumb. I'm impressed with Jesse Owens' athletic accomplishments (they're wicked impressive, after all), but the nose he thumbed--aimed at Hitler--is what makes me look up to him in such awe.

     I'm going to ask you the same question I'm asking of my students: Who are your heroes?

Running Down Kites

          If I was a stalker, I would stalk a few people...Khaled Hosseini, John Reynolds Gardiner, Rick Bragg, Sandra Dallas, John Prine...There are others, but these are ones that come to mind immediately.

        They all have one thing in common: they're all writers (although Prine is a singer-songwriter, albeit a brilliant one).

John Prine---photo by Steve Hopson

       For me, a marvelous book is better than crack or meth (or at least how powerful I imagine the drugs are).  Perhaps I should not include meth, because I think that drug makes you very energetic---you can stay up for days---and since I love to read on the couch or bed and eventually fall asleep, I can't really compare an engaging novel to meth.

       Writing about an alluring author is easy this afternoon, because I just finished watching the movie The Kite Runner.  Truth is, I had been avoiding it for years...

photo of Khaled Hosseini  by wnyc

        Falling in love with a book, and then seeing the story being butchered on the screen, is painful.   When the novel came out, I read it and was completely enamored.  (Alright, there was a part that didn't quite ring true, but I remained loyal until the last page, and it redeemed itself.)  It was such a powerful story, I did not know how a movie---a decent movie---could do it justice.  So when the film came out, I refused to see it.

          Then there were press releases about a second book by Khaled Hosseini.  I scanned the internet when that month came, and...no book.  I went onto this website and found the book was taking longer than anticipated. Drats!

          There I was, waiting like an impatient lover.  And no car lights coming up the street...I was all dressed up, make-up on, anticipating the arrival.

         When the book A Thousand Splendid Suns finally came out, I fell in love all over again.  And as hard as it was to believe, I loved his second book (a book about women) even more than his first (which is really a book about boys and men).  If you have not read either one, and would enjoy seeing a small picture of life in Afghanistan, read them.  They are among my favorites...

         Grudgingly, this morning I put the disc in, still dubious.  Mostly, I was afraid of the movie being all whitebreaded-up.  Would all the Afghans speak English throughout the film? (Why in the world does that happen?  Do producers and directors think Americans are incapable of reading subtitles?  Do they think we don't want to hear the richness--the diversity--of a foreign language?) Would it look like American cheese---all wrapped up in plastic sleeves---instead of fragrant and a bit rough around the edges?  I was prepared for the worst...

        In my opinion, they did a great job.  It was like reading the book all over again.  (And if anyone wants to pay me for this review/opinion, I will gladly accept it.)

photo of Rick Bragg by Kalamazoo Public Library


         To the above authors, consider this a warning:  If you see a frumpy woman, bags under her eyes and a bag of books in her hand, her hair several different colors (unless she gets it dipped this evening) lurking around a corner, watch out.  She might chase after you, snare you, and pepper you with questions about what your writing process is like, as she slobbers out praise for your words. 

Stone Fox

          I was reading some of Dianne Graveman's old postings and found one about Stone Fox.

          In case you are not familiar with the story, it is a book suitable for elementary students.  I have used it with third graders, but at that age, they need support in order to understand the concepts.  It would be a great book to use with sixth graders, especially with  struggling readers; the text is not very difficult, but the story is engaging.

         Willie lives with his grandfather and his trusty sled dog, Searchlight, on a potato farm.  It is just the three of them.  They are about to lose their farm, as they owe a great deal of back taxes.  The farm is all they have...So despondent, Grandfather "checks out" mentally, becomes bedridden, and becomes uncommunicative.

       Fortunately, Willie discovers there is a sled race, and the prize money will cover their debt.

       Unfortunately, Stone Fox has also entered the race.  He is a Native American who never speaks to white people because of the way his nation has been treated.  Stone Fox has a whole team of champion sled dogs; each time he wins a race, he uses the prize money to buy back his tribes' land, the land that has been "stolen" by white people.

         In the race, the two are neck and neck right up to the second-to-last chapter. Each of them should win; they both have noble causes.  And then the unthinkable happens...

         I won't tell you what happens unless you either 1) torture me with milk chocolate or 2) pay me scads of money.  However, I will tell you that if you don't cry, you need to go to Whoville and spend some time with little Cindy Lou Who, because you're heartless...

         It's a short book (around 100 pages, and that includes illustrations) and the author, John Reynolds Gardiner is an awesome speaker.  I once saw him speak at a conference, and he told the story of getting this bestseller published.  He claims there were 138 errors in his manuscript--spelling mistakes, grammatical gaffes, and so on...In 100 or so pages, that's a lot of mistakes.

          His message:  Don't squash the spirit of a writer by paying too much attention to the deficits, the errors.  There are writers who are reluctant to put down their words because they are not confident about things that are really inconsequential.  Spelling is easily fixed. Grammar can be examined during editing.  But a great story is priceless... 

John Reynolds Gardiner---A God

       When you get to personally meet an author of one of your favorite books, it's like you're a groupie and they're Mick Jagger and you're backstage, drooling all over the place...

        That's kind of what it was like when I met John Reynolds Gardiner at an IRA convention, quite a few years ago.












         Gardiner is the author of Stone Fox, one of my all-time favorite books.  My third and fourth graders love it, the novel brings up many issues (because the two main characters are both "right" even though they are competing against each other) and I cry every year when I read aloud the last two chapters.  (I tell myself it won't happen again, but inevitably, it does.)

         When I met him, I noticed he was wearing a ring with a large stone it.  I felt like I was meeting the Pope, and was tempted to kiss his ring...That's how much in awe I am when it comes to his book.

        During his workshop, he spoke to teachers, advising us to not discount a young writer merely because they make frequent spelling and grammatical mistakes.  He admitted that in his slim novel, he had made 138 errors that had to be cleaned up by editors.

        Great stories can be written down, and after celebrating and praising the plot, the characterization, the quirky phrases, then the editing and revising can happen.  Great writers might be poor spellers.  They might confuse their tenses.  But let their creativity shine through.  Don't squash their spirit by focusing in on just the deficits...