Katherine Paterson, Ambassador to Children
Katherine Paterson did not just enjoy her year as the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature--she reveled in it. "Much of what I did was talk to children--I went to schools I would never have gotten to go to otherwise." One trip that particularly sticks out in her memory was to a school in Florida where they had never had an author before. "They read so many of my books so carefully," she recalls. The students proudly showed off their projects based on her books, leading her by the hand with a mixture of reverence and joy.
"People think you might only get that kind of response in a privileged neighborhood but these teachers gave the time and energy," she notes, for the author visit to make a real and lasting impact. Katherine Paterson not only noticed the extra effort but also knows that "Teachers are working themselves to death for kids that the rest of society doesn't care about." This selflessness is not matched by society at large. She confides that "The attitude towards children is heartbreaking to me and it carries over to the people who care for children."
"It's a matter of respect all around," she concludes. The teachers Katherine Paterson admires respect the kids and the kids live up to that. The author has immortalized teachers in her books who modeled that respect for children, including her best-known work. "I will go to my grave as the author of Bridge to Terebithia," she acknowledges.
"When I wrote the book I wasn't sure it would ever be published because it was so personal," Katherine confides. "Then it was published and people responded to it in amazing ways." She pauses. "And then people began to teach it."
One could be pardoned for thinking this would be a positive but Katherine Paterson was not pleased when Bridge to Terebithia became part of the curriculum. "All I could think was how George Eliot and Silas Marner were ruined for me by my eighth grade teacher." She did not want her book consigned to required reading purgatory. She complained to a friend who happened to be a master teacher. The teacher cleverly invited the author to visit her class and sit unobtrusively in the back. What followed was a revelation for Katherine. "She was listening to kids, letting them discover the story in small groups, talking together."
Katherine Paterson is a firm proponent of the idea that the reader gets to decide what the book means to him or her. "What you take away from the book is what you choose to take away--even the writer of the book has no right to tell you how to read the book."
Fans of Terebithia should investigate Katherine Paterson's other works including one of her personal favorites, Same Stuff as Stars. "I wish people would pay more attention to this book," she remarks. "It has resonated with the children who have found it, especially those whose parents are in jail." It is as important to build a sense of empathy as it is to build reading skills.
A book that resonated with the incomparable Margaret Mahy certainly made an impression on Katherine's late husband, John. "The Flint Heart was my husband's book--Horn Book asked a bunch of writers what 20th century book should be read by children of the 21st century. The Flint Heart was Margaret's choice." That was all it took. John Paterson bought the book at his local bookseller and loved it. "He believed with all his heart that it should be brought back into print." His thoughts turned into action as he began to send his own copy around to various publishers asking them if they did not think it should be brought back into print. When Katherine read it, she concluded that no one was going to reprint it: "It was a great story but it's full of Victorian hyperbole, it's not a book today's readers will put up with." She adds that "the author had a wonderful voice but he loved the sound of it and he would just go on and on."
"Finally," Katherine continues, "John sent his copy to Candlewick and they agreed it was wonderful but could not publish it the way it was." But the Patersons had developed a plan. "We decided to really abridge it and that would give us permission to fix the things that needed to be fixed and took out the superfluous bits that would make no sense to young people today." They developed an upstairs/downstairs working style. John would work on the excisions and structure downstairs while Katherine would rewrite above him, flying down the stairs to confer. "He was so thrilled with it." Katherine adds. "I am so grateful he lived long enough to see how beautifully Candlewick published it. The illustrations by John Rocco are so exquisite. It's a beautiful example of how to make a book as an object." She also notes that it is a wonderful book for a family to read aloud together.
Family reading was especially important during her childhood. Born in China, the only English books were those in her home. Her parents had friends in America who would send mostly English books--A.A. Milne, Beatrix Potter, and the like. "I cannot remember a time I could not read. It was as natural as speaking." When her family was evacuated to the U.S. because of the war, she was five and already reading fluently. "The kindergarten teacher, whom I was in terror of, recommended I go to first grade because I could cut with scissors," she chuckles.
However, the reading material she was given at school was a severe disappointment. The very shy Katherine found Dick and Jane baffling. "That wasn't reading to me--reading to me was Jemima Puddleduck." She thought Dick and Jane ("Why are they running up the hill?") was an entirely different language, and was considered slow until fifth grade. "When we came back to the States the second time, the library there was my sanctuary. Reading saved my life. I had no friends. No one wanted to be friends with me because I was too weird. That's the first time I remember seeing the Newbery medal." The future Newbery Medal winner and Ambassador for Young People's Literature knew even then that books with the metallic stickers on them were special.
-- Interviewed by Ellen Myrick, December 2013
