Annalyn Has Ten Toes

Half way through my career in education, I found myself serving in an urban alternative school. The first year, I cried all the way to school and home again for the first semester. And then, surprisingly I discovered that I had fallen in love in with the miscreants who occasionally graced my classroom. Probably without intention, they patiently taught me more about teaching and learning than I learned in college.

I signed up for another year, but at the end of September I was abruptly reassigned in district redistributions of resources, from freshmen social studies to a second grade classroom. It had been nearly a decade since I’d taught at the elementary level. Talk about sticker shock!

My new colleagues generously donated books from their classroom libraries to start one for my new learning community. That was the good news.

One of my colleagues had one more gift before we parted for spring break. Well, maybe two. First she said that leveling books would be a big job, but it would help me understand children’s literature in new ways. Then she shared the Scholastic Book Wizard link, saying it would make the task much easier. She was right on both counts.

Backtrack: In October of my first year at the alternative school, our first granddaughter, Annalyn, made a very early arrival. We nearly lost our daughter, Mary, in the process. From the time Annalyn came home from NICU seventeen days later, almost every week since then, eighteen Octobers, there has been “baby night,” a precious time with Annalyn. From very early on, Dear Reader, part of our shared time included reading.

As I read and leveled books for our classroom library, I began learning about strategies to engage young readers. I also discovered how much fun it could be to play with words. It made me wonder if I could write a book for and about Annalyn.

Kids are great when it comes to a reality check. Let’s just say Annalyn’s very own book was not quite at the top of favorite birthday gifts or library books waiting at home. That’s okay. It was a labor of love for her that started me on a very important part of my personal journey.

Here are a few excerpts from my very first book, Annalyn Has Ten Toes. Home printer, plastic sleeves, in a vinyl binder. Pretty simplistic, right, Dear Reader? A giant leap away from self-publishing with Amazon. But you know what, I am really proud of this book! It taught me so much about the craft of writing. More importantly, Annalyn Has Ten Toes also taught me that being gifted and skilled in writing, is just the tip of the iceberg. To me, the most important quality for a writer is passion for the topic, no matter the genre. Annalyn provided that critical piece of the puzzle for me.

Annalyn starts her college journey this fall; she wants to minor in Creative Writing. I can’t wait to read her first book!