small world

I just ran into an old friend

    Let me clarify that.  Not actually a friend.  And I didn't exactly run into him.
    I was in the fifth grade Hub program class Tuesday  and was just browsing through the paperbacks in the room, seeing if there were any titles I recognized.
     I found a book:  Candy Bomber, the Story of the Berlin Airlift's "Chocolate Pilot."
it was written by Michael Tunnell.  I had him for a class at NIU when I started working on my master degree in education.
     It was a children's literature class and he introduced me to some amazing authors.
     I think I may have eventually discovered them on my own, but in his class I met them.
     Lloyd Alexander, the reclusive author of the Prydain series.  He lived in near or in Philadelphia and always welcomed school groups and visitors in his home.  We did a conference call with him in class and were able to talk to the author, who won a Newberry Award years ago.  The Prydain series was fantasy, long before Harry Potter made fantasy popular.
     Book of Three, Black Cauldron, High King, Taran Wanderer, Castle of Llyr..... all good reads for people who believe in oracular pigs and good triumphing over evil.
     We had to read X number of books for the class.  I found Great Gilly Hopkins, which is one of my all time favorite books.  A scrawny pain in the butt delinquent who wants nothing but to go back to her mother.  Not all books have happy endings, even if it means getting your wish.  That led me to other Kathryn Patterson books, like Bridge to Terabithia...... great reads.
     And Judy Blume, of course.
     Truthfully, that is one thing I miss about teaching.... sharing books with youngsters and reading books written for youngsters.  Their messages are so simple, and yet so telling.
     The year my brother died I read Tuck Everlasting, about a family that could not die.  Actually, i think I read Tuck every year.  But that year is was a pretty powerful personal message I got.  People die.  It's part of the circle of life.
     The Tucks could not die and Winnie Foster was the only person who knew the secret.  When Mae Tuck is arrested for a crime, and sentenced to die by hanging, Winnie sneaks out of the house and helps her escape, thus preserving the secret.
     But the question is if Winnie will reveal the spring with the magical waters that the Tucks drank.  When the Tucks come back in 70 years, they learn the answer.
     It's a book about the value of death.  And loyalty.  And love.
     I could go on about Walk Two Moons, Where the Red Fern Grows, the Chronicles of Narnia......but you don't have enough time to read all I could say about them.
     There is a contact info page in this book.  I think I'll drop the author a note and tell him thanks..... belatedly.... for bringing kids lit to life for me.
     And thanks for telling the story of the Candy Bomber.