 |
Living in the Village of Story-Lovers
I have always loved the sounds of words. One of my earliest memories is of my mother waking me up in the morning with an explanation of the
"runcible spoon" in Edward Lear's "The Owl and the Pussycat," which we had read the night before.
I was fascinated with the sounds of "The Night Before Christmas" and before I knew what obstacles or hurricanes were, I knew I loved
to hear "as dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, /When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky...."
The Holstein cows on our farm in Maine were not poetic in any way. They were just big, dusty, heavy-hooved cows. They spent their days chewing
their cuds, resting under shade trees, eating grass and hay. But their names were rhythmical and pleasing to me-Riceland Marathon Indigo, Riverflat Blanche Wisconsin, Kearsarge Helen Dauntless. So were the names
of the rivers near the farm-Nezinscot, Androscoggin, and, further away, Damariscotta, Kennebec.
As a child I also loved stories-the stories people tell each other about the small adventures in their lives. And I loved the stories we found
in books. We did not have a lot of books but we had enough-a set of 12 "Bookhouse" books that contained poems, myths, tall tales and fairy tales. I read the Grimm fairy tales many times. And I read the
story of Paul Bunyan so often I thought I was neighbor to him and his blue ox Babe, his cooks-Hot Biscuit Slim and Cream Puff Fatty—and sad Little Meery who had to sleep under the kitchen sink.
A Danish man who worked on our farm gave us a book I particularly treasured. It was a small thick book with small print, but it contained all
the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen.
I did not think of being a writer it those years. I read, walked the lanes and fields of our farm, picked raspberries, worked and played with my
brothers and sisters, stood under the pine trees, and absorbed the feel and smell and sounds of the place. I'm glad students now have opportunities to write but I'm not sure all people who will eventually become
writers enjoy writing when they are students. Those are also good years for taking in, soaking up, storing away.
I began to think of telling stories and writing books when my husband and I had young children. Sarah, Justin and I read stacks of books every
day. One day I decided I would like to write books that parents, grandparents, aunts or uncles might share with children-picture books. I thought I would be fortunate indeed if they enjoyed my stories as Justin,
Sarah, and I had enjoyed Curious George, Chicken Soup With Rice, Babar the Elephant, and the others in our stacks.
I still love the sounds of words and now I love telling stories. Sometimes telling a story involves building a story from the ideas and
characters in my head, such as GOOD TIMES ON GRANDFATHER MOUNTAIN (Orchard Books), GRANDMOTHER BRYANT'S POCKET (Houghton Mifflin), or HIGGINS BEND SONG AND DANCE (Houghton Mifflin), Sometimes it involves
learning the factual details for the story as in WASHING THE WILLOW TREE LOON (Simon & Schuster) for which I had to learn about rehabilitating oil soaked birds. For the GREEN TRUCK GARDEN GIVEAWAY (Simon
& Schuster) I learned many facts about vegetables and plants.
And sometimes telling a story involves a lot of listening. I could not write about Wilson Bentley's life for the book SNOWFLAKE BENTLEY
until I had read his own writing, read magazine articles in which he was interviewed, "heard his voice." Even though he died in 1931, I wanted to feel that I had visited his farmhouse kitchen, sat at
the table next to his wood stove and talked with him. I had to imagine him telling me of his love of the beauty of snow crystals and his determination to save that beauty and share it with others.
As a person who makes up stories and puts them in the world, I am always grateful to those who share the beauty of stories. Without parents,
teachers, librarians, and older brothers and sisters who read to younger brothers and sisters, writers would be singing their songs to empty rooms. All of us who love words and stories make up a community of
people, a story-loving village, bound together though we live far apart, by our shared experiences with stories and the characters we love-Curious George, Miss Rumphius, Paul Bunyan, Lily, Max in his wolf suit,
Lyle the Crocodile, and so many more. •
|
About the Author:
Jacqueline Briggs Martin lives in Iowa with her husband Richard. They are the parents of two grown children.
When not writing Martin enjoys reading, gardening—especially growing tomatoes and chilies—tent camping, and hiking. Her most recent book, THE LAMP, THE ICE, AND THE BOAT CALLED FISH was
published by Houghton Mifflin in Fall, 2000.
Recent Books
The Lamp, the Ice, and the Boat Called Fish (Houghton Mifflin)
Snowflake Bentley (Houghton Mifflin)
To contact this author or illustrator, please use the information for his or her publisher provided on our list of CBC member publishers.
Meet the Author/Illustrator Archives
|