Well, anyone who’s been following this knows that I have been struggling to stay with my reading. I’m not sure if it’s just a disappointing array of books (I’m not including MIDNIGHT BLUE in that statement) or if I’m burnt out, but I think it’s the former because….I decided the trick was to revisit something wonderful, and I did that today and it worked. I love reading again.
Here is where I started: Today I read John Rowe Townsend’s first book GUMBLE’S YARD. I suppose I first read it about 15 years ago. It is as brilliant today as it was when it was written in 1961 or therabouts.
Do you know about JRT? What? No? Get thee to a library quick! You are missing out on one of the world’s great storytellers. When I was about 14 or so, I was at the library and I was looking for a particular book and it wasn’t there. However, JRT’s THE SUMMER PEOPLE was there and looked interesting so I checked it out. I remember handing it off to my mum because I was so impressed and while we share books now, I don’t think we did much then. Anyway, she loved it. We soon discovered more JRT books and then Mum came across WRITTEN FOR CHILDREN. Yeah…JRT is probably the world authority on books written for children. No kidding. But the story gets better!
Our library had about 5 of his books. One day, when I was living in England, I wandered upstairs in Bluebell Bookshop, a local bookstore in the north of England in Penrith, and discovered a whole ROW of books by JRT. I then scoured England collecting his books before I left. I have 19. There is at least one YA I know I don’t have and a biography he wrote on John Newberry (yeah…Newberry Award) that I don’t have either. I was able to read the YA in England when I was there though from the library.
Anyway, it gets better…better, you say? But how can that be? Well…when I got back to the US in 1992, I wrote to JRT and guess what? Yep. He wrote back! We have carried on a correspondance for 15 years. His partner is the reknowned writer Jill Paton Walsh, and while we have not corresponded, I thoughtfully send her my best wishes and JRT responds likewise by saying hello to my mother (also a fan, but much shyer than me!) every time we write.
So, what I realized the other day is that while I’m quick to say he is one of my most favorite authors in the whole wide world, I hadn’t read any of these books in many a moon. I am now treating myself to reading them start to finish in the order he wrote them (with one exception…he wrote a sequel to one book several years later and I intend to read those two together, even though he wrote others in between). So, check back to hear wonderful things about JRT and my adventure in reareading these wonderful stories (some of them I have read recently, but others I haven’t picked up since the first time I read them 15 years or more ago).
Oh, and you know what’s extra cool? I think at least five of the books are signed to me. He’s sent them to me at various times. Oh, and well, I might as well embarrass myself here and admit what I did. When I first wrote to him, I had just started writing and reading YA. I had just read MANIAC MAGEE and thought it was wonderful (this was after it was in paperback and had won the Newberry!) and so I sent him a copy…you know…thinking that he probably wouldn’t get an American book in the U.K.! Hehe! He was very gracious and only said thank you instead of “Are you an idiot? I was on the judging panel.” or something like that!
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