A Conversation with BILL BEVERLYAuthor of DodgersAnd his mother, Martha BeverlyA high school LIBRARI
A Conversation with BILL BEVERLYAuthor of DodgersAnd his mother, Martha BeverlyA high school LIBRARIAN!Q. Tell us about your career as a librarian and why you chose it.A. (Martha) Quite frankly, I didn’t realize that library work would become my future. I stayed home with Bill and his younger brother until they entered school. We read and played phonics games every day. Once the boys were in school, I completed my degree as an English major, heading for teaching. But the schools were laying off teachers, so my husband suggested that library school might be a good idea. It was a brilliant idea! My organizational mind and love of reading made that a better career match. My first library job was a two-year stint as a bookmobile librarian and driver. Then I was hired into a public school system where I served as elementary librarian and, later, high school librarian.Q. Did you see Bill as a writer early on?A. (Martha) Bill’s love for language is no surprise. He read constantly as a young kid, and we read together as a family every night. We bought desks for the boys when Bill was six. Every day, even if there was no school homework, the boys spent twenty or thirty minutes at their desks, reading, writing or drawing. We felt that a quiet time for study was an important habit to develop. At dinnertime every night the dictionary or Warriner’s grammar book made an appearance as we discussed and debated grammar, usage, and vocabulary. When the grandparents visited, the discussions grew livelier. We all love to play with language and never fail to discover ways to tickle each other with reports of billboard language, puns, weird words, and creativity.Q. Bill, we hear your first job was at a library. What was that like? A. Yes – I shelved books at the Kalamazoo Public Library: first the 600 section was mine, then fiction, science fiction, and mystery – we observed the old schisms. It was a good job to have. I alphabetize well: even today, most of my house is alphabetized. And, there were always bookish girls working there. And as long as your section was in reasonably good order and the reading areas were picked up, you could get some reading done back in the office. Most of my jobs, come to think of it, have been jobs that allowed me to get some reading done. Q. When did you know you wanted to be a writer?A. (Bill) Oh, fourth or fifth grade. Maybe earlier. But it took me a long time to do anything about it. I’m not sure why, but I wasn’t brave about the arts, about making things. In college, it amazed me to hear my friends who were musicians and see my friends who were artists and writers, creating, making things. Making noise. It took me a long time to imagine myself as one of them.Q. How has your mom’s career inspired and influenced you?A. (Bill) My mom was and is a great librarian – she took over a moribund high school library and, in a couple of years, transformed it. She ditched much of the old, unused collection and restocked it with paperbacks she’d bring home from book sales. She made the place bright and comfortable. She applied for grants, got computers handed down from the university in town, had the internet in the library before almost anyone. She was relentless in listening to what students wanted and trying to make it available. And that’s always been an inspiration to me as I’ve taught. I don’t know that I always live up to it – or could. She still has more energy than anybody else I know.She and my father, a German teacher, filled the house with books. My brother and I grew up seeing our parents read. So we read. There was never a shortage of books about. And we were never hassled about what we read, or chose not to read. That activity always seemed to be protected, to be blessed.Q. What is it like to have your son publish a novel? Did you get to read drafts or provide sage advice?A. (Martha) His dad and I were blown away by the power of his writing. As a librarian and his mom, I’ve jumped for joy when the starred reviews were announced!Q. What do you both like to read?A. (Martha) I’ve always preferred non-fiction. As a kid I read every children’s biography in my town’s library. I like poetry, plays, history, travel, and lately have been focusing on African American literature, some of it fiction. I’m in two book groups that read fiction to stretch myself in that direction. Recently I led a discussion of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah.A. (Bill) In my day job, I’m an English professor, so I get to read on the job all the time. My favorite author in the classroom is James Baldwin. But I read whatever I can get ─ I graze poetry, fiction, reviews of music and film and books. My mom’s aunt, who lived in Lower Manhattan, bought me a New Yorker subscription every year beginning when I was about 14 ─ an amazing gift for a kid who reads. And my daughter helps me revisit ─ Madeleine L'Engle, Roald Dahl, William Steig. Right now we’re reading Treasure Island together. I recommend it. -- source link
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