BOOKS & AUTHORS: FOCUSING ON THE SOUTH CAROLINA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD

ONE BOOK AT A TIME

I was just talking about the power of state book awards with Rich, and how once your novel gets on a list, people start seeing the book differently. They take notice. And it feels good to be noticed, doesn't it?

 I mean, I’ve been noticing the nominees on South Carolina’s Children’s Book Award list since Little Joe became a finalist. I want to read them all. 

Many of the titles I’d heard of, but most of them I’d hadn’t. And that’s a shame. 

So, since it’ll be 11 months until we find out who the winner is (the kids choose), I’ve decided to read as many as I can and let you know about them. First up: Because of Terupt by Rob Buyea. (For a full list of the nominees, read here.)

Mr. Terupt’s the kind of person every teacher aspires to be and any fifth grader would want mentoring them in class. I never had a Mr. Terupt, though I did have teachers enthusiastic enough about their subjects for me to glean insight on work ethic and passion--not to mention my penchant for shoes. (My first grade teacher wore a different pair of patent leather pumps each day to match the color of her dress, and I’ve been wearing shiny shoes ever since.)

But Mr. Terupt is different—he’s concerned with drawing out the most from his students and having them build a community within class walls where it’s safe, nurturing and fun—in other words, an environment that fosters learning.

  

We find all this all out not from Mr. Terupt, but through 7 very different student narratives. As an author, I admire Rob (who's taught 3^rd and 4^th graders) for attempting and keeping so many voices going consistently—imagine writing about 7 main characters, and in first person! (Lots of continuity checking and revisions, I’m sure.) Mr. Terupt becomes the catalyst for their words, feelings and changing perceptions, and I really like that idea in a book. Tension builds as each narrator hints about the fateful day when a snowball changes everything and Mr. Terupt becomes the focus, bringing them all even closer.

Rob’s already written the much anticipated sequel to Because of Terupt, so we’ll find out more about the mysterious background behind the inspirational teacher.

Though Sidney Poitier in To Sir, With Love will always be my favorite fictitious teacher of all time, I have a soft spot for Because of Terupt. Rob’s book came out the same year Little Joe did and we were both featured in Random House’s It’s a First spotlight, along with Clare Vanderpool’s Moon Over Manifest. Sound familiar? Clare’s first novel won the Newbery!

Why The Next Bobby Flay Makes Me Want To Play Chopsticks On The Piano Again

Cheri Giblin photo

Eleven-year-old Jack Witherspoon is talking about how he acquired a broader taste palate, and ‘twisting up’ the recipes in his astounding new cookbook, Twist It Up, published by Chronicle.

In between, he’s chopping vegetables as expertly as Bobby Flay--whom he’s palled around with--demonstrating the precision and speed that he can also deliver on the tae kwan do mat (he’s a black belt), though, “It’s kind of hard that some of the tools are too big,” Jack says.

I start thinking about what my accomplishments were before hitting puberty. Only a handful of things (and that’s stretching it) come to mind: there was that Senior badge in swimming, five trips to Disney World (a neighborhood record), and the ability to play chopsticks on the piano.

My culinary accomplishments consisted of setting the table and putting Eggo waffles in the toaster for an after-school snack before watching TV, twisting things up by adding Nutella to the waffles— if Lucille Ball was stomping on grapes in I Love Lucy.

But extraordinary circumstances can bring out the extraordinary in people, and it’s more than true with Jack.

His palette-stretching experience began five years ago while in a California hospital recovering from his second battle with leukemia, at the age of six. Faced with days in a hospital bed weakened by chemotherapy, Jack watched Alton Brown make mac n’ cheese from scratch and his perception of food was changed forever.

The Food Network became Jack’s welcome diversion and the catalyst for his obsession with food. Faced with months of treatment for leukemia without school, martial arts or Little League, the one thing Jack could do was cook.

From his family’s Redondo Beach home, Jack tests all his recipes with the help of his mom, Lisa, and welcome taste testers, dad John, and kid brother, Josh. Watching one of his cooking demos, Jack gets as excited about blending spices and the rich, velvety taste of ricotta cheese as any seasoned TV chef. But then you see him stretch up on his tippy toes to peak at his baked ziti bubbling in the oven. “It smells awesome!” Jack grins, using his fingers to mix more ingredients, like any kid would.

It’s a good thing though, when Jack gets excited about eating. Last summer, while making plans to launch his cookbook, a routine exam showed that the leukemia had returned. “It took us by complete surprise because he was the epitome of health,” Jack’s mother told the Chicago Tribune.

Dealing with the disease for the third time, Jack underwent a bone marrow transplant in August, which robbed him of his strength and his appetite, but could very well have saved his life.

I’m making Jack’s stuffed mushroom caps, which Top Chef Fabio Viviani—who’s also a good friend of Jack’s--says is the best appetizer. “He knows food, I am telling you,” Viviani told The Easy Reader. “This kid in the next five years is going to forget more about food than I could ever learn.”

The mushroom concoction looks a bit dreary, so I glance through Jack’s cookbook looking for the ‘twist it up’ suggestion, and realize how appropriate it is that all the recipes are for comfort foods.

Spinach and feta. That’s what Jack recommends. I look for a frozen bag of spinach and pop the mushrooms in the oven. Then I read what Jack wrote on his blog last month:

Rock Climbing

Posted on February 26, 2012 by Jack Witherspoon

Went to Hanger 18 yesterday to do some rock climbing. I’ve been there a few times before, it’s totally fun and will help me get in shape for when I join the Boy Scouts this month. My stamina is getting soooo much better now, it’s been 6 months since my transplant and I’m feeling almost like my old self again. By this summer, the doctors say I should be 100% recovered. I’ll be going back to school after Spring break…can’t wait to see everyone again!!

Part of the proceeds for Jack’s cookbook, Twist It Up go to the Jack Witherspoon Permanent Endowment at Miller Children’s Hospital in Long Beach, California.