My thanks to all for responding yesterday with such positive comments about my autobiography. Early orders are being placed and I’m grateful. I appreciate the comments of advance readers whose remarks appear on the back cover. Among them, JANE YOLLEN wrote, “Honest, full of (often) self-deprecating humor, but right on the nose, this autobiography by David L. Harrison is about his growth as one of the best writers and elder statemen of children’s books and children’s poetry books still publishing in America today.” SANDY ASHER said, “The curiosity, insight, warmth, and humor that have brought him world-wide success in this field are evident on every page of his captivating memoir. Bravo, David, for a life well-lived and well-told. “
Yesterday I finished the 26th poem of the 50 I need for the book under way. I’ve crossed the halfway mark and that’s a good feeling. Today, back in the wheel.
After a fine three weeks of goo foffing, we arrived home yesterday and were picked up at the airport by grandson KRIS, who also brought food for our dinner from son-in-law TIM. What a delightful way to come home!
Thanks for the picture, Nate Papes, Springfield News-Leader
We had our mail held so today we should have quite a box of accumulated pieces to go through. Two packages were already waiting, both containing great surprises. One was a new paperback edition of RUM PUM PUM, the picture that JANE YOLEN and I wrote together about a lonely tiger who finds a lost drum that changes his life. I’m SO happy to see this. At $8.99, it’s a bargain and I hope to see buyers taking advantage of it. The artwork by ANJAN SARKAR is wonderful.
The other box held two copies of a new HarperColins anthology, STORIES FOR 4 YEAR OLDS, Fifteen Stories from Favourite Authors to Enjoy and Share. The editor is JULIA ECCLESHARE. It’s published in England and includes stories about Paddington Bear and Rapunzel.
Quick picture taken on the seat of an office chair: sorry.
I was curious about Julia so I Googled her and learned that “Eccleshare is currently children’s books editor for The Guardian newspaper, and also regularly appears on BBC Radio 4‘s Open Book and Front Row programmes.[8] In 2014 she was appointed Head of Policy and Advocacy for Public Lending Right. She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to children’s literature.[9] She was an awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters (DLitt, Hons) by the University of Worcester in 2014. She is married and has four children, and lives in London.[7]“
Way to go, Julia, and thank you for choosing my story to go in such fine company.
My thanks to NILE STANLEY, poet and Chair, Department of Childhood Education at University of NorthFlorida, for reviewing, RUM PUM PUM in the latest issue of The Florida Literacy Journal. JANE YOLEN and I co-wrote the story, richly illustrated by ANJAN SARKAR, and published by Holiday House in 2020.Nile is a former editor of the Florida Reading Quarterly and founder and chair of the annual Poetry Olio of the Conference of theInternational Literacy Association.
In his review, he states, “This is a book that children will want to experience again and again. The book lends itself naturally to storytelling because the plot is engaging, simple, and fast-paced…I found the experiences of teaching the book to children equally satisfying through the techniques of visual storytelling, read aloud, and literary storytelling. I eagerly introduced the book to a large group of aged 3 to 5 preschoolers with a picture walk through the book.”
Thank you, Nile. I hope our paths will cross again one of these days, at a conference or elsewhere.
Picture thanks to Nathan Papes, Springfield News-Leader
Those of us who write for young people are sometimes asked by friends who want to get a book as a gift if we have anything for a certain age and/or particular interest. I’ve never blogged about it, but in some of the upcoming posts I’ll try to include brief descriptions as an aid to anyone who might be interested.
To start, here’s the link to my website book page where you can see all my titles plus other information, including, in many cases, what reviewers have said about them. http://www.davidlharrison.com/books.htm
Most of my work has been for children in grades 3-5 but some titles appeal to older readers and a few were written with the very young in mind. Today I’ll give you a couple of suggestions for the very young, starting with the first book I ever wrote, THE BOY WITH A DRUM, which came out in 1969 and can still be found now and the on Amazon Used Books.
A little boy — charmingly illustrated by Eloise Wilkin — marches down a road and is followed by a growing number of animals, each singing its own song as they go. “If they haven’t stop marching, they’ll be marching still.” It’s a mass market book that sold for 29 cents in 1969. I just checked it on Amazon and a used copy is listed for $66, but that’s a computer-driven price. Try it again and the price will probably be much lower. You might have to settle for a well-loved copy, more than 2,000,000 copies have sold. It’s a good rhyming tale for kids at the age to learn the sounds that animals make and follow along with the marching little boy going rat-a-tat-tat on his drum.
Jane Yolen and I combined to create a different sort of parade although it, too, involves a drum and a following of animals through the forest. RUM PUM PUM is handsomely illustrated with a setting in India, thanks to gifted Indian artist Anjan Sarkar, who lives in London.“As Tiger traverses the forest, other animals take a chance and accompany the big cat and his gentle ‘friend,’ adding their voices to Tiger’s ‘ Rrrrrrrrrrhhh’ and Drum’s ‘Rum pum pum.’ Monkey, Rhino, Parrot, Chameleon, and Elephant make up the rest of the parade through the lush green-and-gold Indian forest. The phrase ‘And they went along and went along and went along the road’ recurs, giving the story the feel of a folktale.”—Booklist
I’m potentially one day from an editorial meeting that will determine if a new educational proposal with Tim Rasinski will be accepted. If it is, I won’t have that window of time I was expecting until mid-August when I’ll begin work on the book for Shell with Laura Robb and Tim Rasinski. In anticipation of getting the green light, I’ve already begun work on the first of what would be 75 new poems.
If the proposal is accepted, I’ll have very little time for the rest of the year to develop new ideas for trade publishers. The other day Nikki Grimes was relating how she has recently pull some old manuscript out of storage and given them fresh chances to be accepted. Jane Yolen does now and then. So does Sandy Asher and any number of other writers including me. That might be about all I’ll have time for. That’s not altogether bad though. I once sold a book years later to an editor who had turned it down in the first place.
Children's Author David L. Harrison's Blog 