To Jim Aylesworth, a crowd of kids is like a priceless violin waiting to be picked up and played by a virtuoso.
Aylesworth is just that.
A writer of books, a teller of tales, a 1st-grade teacher; Aylesworth is all of these, but the thing that makes him the proudest is that he`s not a quitter. ”There`s no quittin` here,” he tells his 1st graders at William Hatch Elementary School in Oak Park, where he has been teaching for the last 18 years.
Of course, he did give up being a stock broker back in the 1970s ”to do something important with my life.” He became a 1st-grade teacher instead
”because they told me it was a tricky age and I wanted to do something tricky.”
From teaching came the next step on his less-traveled road: becoming a published author, a writer of children`s books.
Aylesworth, who lives with his family in Hinsdale and teaches two courses in children`s literature at the College of Du Page, admits to his young audiences that it took him a long time to get up the courage to write his first book. ”I always said I was too busy,” he says. ”That`s what grownups say when they`re afraid to try.”
But try he did, and as a result, today he is one of several children`s authors from Du Page County who are recognized nationwide for their works.
The most prolific and best-known of the local writers is Mary Craig, known to her young fans as Mary Francis Shura. Craig, who lives in
Willowbrook, has written more than 60 books for children and adults, frequently publishing three a year.
Another is Ruth Hooker of Naperville, whose picture books for preschoolers and primary-grade children are gaining popularity.
Aylesworth, Craig and Hooker talked about their writing careers to school audiences in Downers Grove recently as participants in a Children`s Authors Festival that drew established authors from throughout the Chicago
metropolitan area.
Aylesworth told the second and third graders at Whittier Elementary School in Downers Grove that writing isn`t easy. Not to discourage them-no, indeed, Aylesworth is not a discouraging guy-but to let them know that tough things are worth doing, that ”quittin` isn`t allowed.”
He was there to show the kids what it felt like to be a published author. They could tell it felt good: He was wearing his emotions as easily as his loose-fitting calico shirt and cowboy boots, as he slowly pulled out of his pocket a rumpled piece of paper that was the first scribbled notes for his very first book.
A tall, ruggedly handsome man of 46 with long, chestnut-colored hair and a Texas twang left over from a Southern childhood, Aylesworth showed the children the nine books he has published (five more are in production) and read one of them, a book called ”Hush Up.”
The kids knew it would be noisy. All of his books are ”because I know kids like noise.” They weren`t disappointed as his voice rose to a bellow.
Aylesworth also brought along some bad news: the reams worth of rejection letters he has received from publishing companies. He waved the 400 letters in the air like a flag of honor to show the fledgling authors that discouragement can be overcome.
He obviously loves kids.
”That`s why I`m a teacher, and that`s why I like to write children`s books,” he told one hand-waving boy.
Another quizzed him about where he gets ideas for his books.
”From people I know and places I go and everything that was and everything that will be,” he said, explaining that the inspiration for
”Siren in the Night” came to him when ”I was out for a walk one evening with my wife and two boys (they are grown now) and our dog, Polly, behind the fire station in Hinsdale.”
Aylesworth said other story ideas come from his Oak Park classroom, which is where he learned to be a writer.
”I learned to love reading books to my students so much that I wanted to write one,” he told the children.
Seventeen years later Julie Mullen still remembers the enchantment of listening to Aylesworth read to her 1st-grade class every day. Now a journalism major at Northwestern University`s Medill School of Journalism, she picked Aylesworth recently as the most interesting person she had ever known for a magazine writing assignment and was delighted to discover that after all those years ”he still loves what he`s doing. He still has that real desire to help kids and to affect them.”
”This love of teaching and personal appeal is reflected in Jim Aylesworth`s books,” said Paula Moore, head children`s librarian at the Downers Grove Public Library. Aylesworth`s most recent book, ”One Crow,” is receiving starred reviews from national critics. ”That means it`s one of the best children`s books coming out this year,” said Moore.
Another Du Page County author who gets plenty of starred reviews is Mary Craig. One of her most recent books, ”The Josie Gambit,” is up for 14 state awards this year, and ”Don`t Call Me Toad!” has already been nominated for just as many next year.
During the Children`s Authors Festival, Craig was in Downers Grove for an autographing session at the library and to meet a number of her devoted fans
(she gets 2,000 fan letters a year).
While scrawling a personal message on each of the books presented, she talked about her writing life. ”You know about my identity problem,” she said matter-of-factly, explaining that she writes for adults and children under three different names.
To her adult readers, she is Mary Craig (her real name) or M.S. Craig. On the other hand, teen and young adult readers (she writes novels, mysteries, fantasy, humor and historicals for this age group) know her as Mary Francis Shura (the name of her first husband who died). Craig has been writing for a half a century and loves to recount her early years as a writer, a story she`s obviously told often. ”I was first published when I was 14. By the time I was 30, I`d published about 300 short stories.”
At the same time she was rearing four children. ”When the two oldest were away at camp, I decided to write my first book.”
That book, a fantasy called ”Simple Spigott,” was listed as one of the 100 best children`s books in 1960, the year it was published, and is running on Japanese television as a mini-series for the third time this year.
Her passion for writing came early. ”The year I was 8 I announced to the world that I was going to be a writer,” she declared, a decision that she says was met with scorn by most adults she knew. ” `What do you have to say that anyone would want to read,` they said. But not my parents. Never my parents.”
Today she never misses an opportunity to tell children, ”If you know down inside yourself what you want to do, go for it. Go for the personal dream you have because it works.”
Craig talks to 12,000 children a year in schools all over the country
”because I want to show kids that there is a human being inside the covers of my book. When they hear me talk about my books, it opens up a whole new option for them. They think to themselves, `If she can do it, so can I.` ”
This message had already hit the mark for Erin Satterthwaite, a Downers Grove sixth grader, who was waiting in line for an autograph with a stack of Shura books in her arms. Satterthwaite hopes to be a writer, although ”I never really thought about it until I read her books,” she confessed shyly.
Craig, 66, is a tall woman with dark, slightly unruly hair that is pulled back into a soft bun with a few wispy curls escaping. She appears not to have changed much since she spent most of her early school years ”in the principal`s office because I was bored.”
”I don`t think grownups improve a lot with age,” she said.
She still loves ”animals and hidden treasures and puzzles and grownups that are absolutely hilarious and have no idea they are.” Her books are full of these favorite things.
Student audiences always ask her where she gets ideas for her stories.
”I wish a book backed up to my head like a UPS truck, but it never does. It comes in pieces,” she explained to one inquisitor.
”Writing is nothing but thinking written down,” she told another. ”I know that I`m ready to write the book when I can write the last chapter. Then I can say to the book, `You`d better behave because this is where you`re going.` ”
How long does it take her to write a book?
”I write it as fast as it wants to be written,” she said. ”Sometimes I write as much as 7,000 words a day. But then I let it cool off for about two weeks. When I go back to it, I use the other side of my brain and go over and over it until it flows like cream.”
Craig is proud that she is well known for being a meticulous researcher, which makes her a favorite among librarians.
”She not only attracts the children because she has a very valid sense of kids and their inner feelings, she`s popular with librarians because she`s such a good writer,” said Ann Reit, executive editor of Scholastic, Inc.
Craig`s most recent books written under the Mary Francis Shura name are
”Kate`s Book,” to be released in September, and its sequel, ”Kate`s House.”
”I just finished that book last week and shipped it off to the publisher on Monday,” she said. These are the stories of a girl who was part of the famous Oregon immigration of 1843.
Being released this month is Craig`s 61st book, entitled ”Mystery of Wolf River.” ”It`s actually on the Fox River,” she said. Another of her recent books, ”The Sunday Doll,” is set in Hinsdale. Both are written under her Mary Francis Shura pen name.
”Writing is all I do,” she explained. ”There aren`t very many of us that are lucky or happy enough to do that.”
Although not a full-time writer, Ruth Hooker, a Naperville mother of four and grandmother of seven, obviously loves her part-time writing career and seems unconcerned that she`s not as well known as Shura or Aylesworth.
Hooker`s most recent books, ”At Grandma and Grandpa`s House” and ”Sara Loves Her Big Brother,” are popular ”because they tune in to the very particular world of little children,” said Kathy Tucker, editor-in-chief of Albert Whitman & Company, a publishing company headquartered in Niles. ”Ruth is very observant about the kind of detail that small children can relate to, details that adults have forgotten.”
Hooker`s first book, a novel for young adults published in 1970, won an award from the Friends of American Writers. She has written seven books since then, with her ooks for preschoolers. ”My grandchildren help me keep up with the lingo,” she explained.
A love of reading and a brief stint as a children`s librarian in Naperville were the main reasons she became a children`s author.
”If I had two lives, I would still be a children`s librarian,” said Hooker, whose half-glasses, close cropped gray hair and quiet manner would fit her perfectly for the role.
She doesn`t maintain a regular writing schedule ”because I don`t have a regular life.” Her husband retired nine years ago, and the two have traveled extensively, but now she`s hoping to settle down and get back to writing. At 69, she claims, ”I`m going to write until they can`t read my writing any longer.”
Of a writer`s life, she has several favorite parts. One is ”the underground of writers” she knows, including Craig and Aylesworth. ”We get together and have a good ol` time.”
”Writing is a lonely job,” she said, ”but I like the rewriting, the figuring out how to make it flow.”
Like Aylesworth and Shura, Hooker writes her books to be read aloud.
”It`s very satisfying, especially when I get it right,” she said.
