This was another book about an author's journey to becoming an author, this time part of the "Meet the Author" series by The Learning Works, focusing on Katherine Paterson. Paterson is the author of several famous children's books, The Bridge to Terabithia, Jacob Have I Loved, and The Great Gilly Hopkins. I remember reading The Great Gilly Hopkins as a read-aloud to the fifth grade class I worked with many years ago. The kids anxiously awaited each day's installment. Katherine Paterson is an excellent author, to be sure.
I found the story of her life to be fascinating. She was the child of missionaries in China and experienced many hardships during those years abroad. She freely shares the troublesome things which gave her an internal angst ... things like school, loneliness, a sense of not belonging, etc. But she took those emotions and channeled them into stories that today's children can easily relate to.
I think I was most touched by the story which prompted her to write The Bridge to Terabithia. Her young son had been having difficulty adjusting to a new school in second grade, when he made a fast friend in a little girl named Lisa Hill. The summer after their intense time together, Lisa was struck by lightning and died. As she told of passing the news on to her young son, I wept. Writing the book, and dedicating it to the memory of her son's young friend, was cathartic in all the ways that writing should be.
It is always interesting to discover the lives behind the stories that come to life in the pages of a book. I will never tire of reading about authors and their journey to publication. One day ... maybe ... Who knows?
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