I’ve always believed in
the difference one person can make in a child's life. Often that one person is
a teacher. Take my fourth-grade
teacher, for instance.
Let me just say from the get go—fourth-grade was not my best
year.
I think the harbinger of
doom was my mom insisting I get a Dorothy Hamill haircut that summer so when I
walked into Ponderosa Elementary School on that first day, I looked like a
little boy. Come to think of it, I looked more like Justin Bieber
at 12, than Dorothy Hamill, but at the time Beiber was 20 something years from being born so ...
For some reason, I don’t
remember having any friends that year.
I blame the Justin Bieber/Dorothy Hamill 'Do.
Maybe I did, but right
now I can’t recall having a single one. I do remember the boy who was mean to
me all year, Jason Something. He teased me mercilessly about my Boy Hair. And I
remember Todd Lanam because I was googly eyes about him and told his mother
this every chance I could get because she helped out in class. (Todd didn’t
want anything to do with me, but his mother was awfully nice!)
But despite this, fourth-grade was the year that introduced me to my most beloved teacher, Mrs. Ward. She was
incredibly kind to me and supportive of me. I couldn’t figure out why. Nobody
else really liked me (except Mrs. Lanam) but Mrs. Ward was my biggest fan.
Of course, now that I’m
an adult I realize she liked me because I was a total book nerd and read every
spare second I had. She gave me a gift.
Now, I’ve lived in more
than a dozen cities in my life. During those early years, I would cull my belongings
to what would fit in my hatchback and hit the road. So, needless to say, I
didn’t have a lot of things leftover from my childhood.
But there is one thing I
still have to this day. A gift from Mrs. Ward.
You see, Mrs. Ward gave
me a kid’s Thesaurus—which, if you are a fourth-grade bookworm who dreams of
being a writer one day—is equivalent to the Keys to the Kingdom!
So, yeah, the thesaurus
was an AMAZING gift, but it gets even better. Because she wrote on the inside
of that thesaurus these words:
Nov. 17, 1977
4th grade
To Kristine:
For reading 16 books in
six weeks with a
Total of 2629 pages!!!!
Keep reading
Kristine—maybe
someday you’ll be a
writer of
children’s books.
Love from,
Mrs. Ward
I’ve already turned in my
acknowledgment page for Blessed are the Dead, but my second book (Blessed are
the Meek) comes out only a month later. I’m sure my editor is going to be
asking for that page and this time, I’m going to thank Mrs. Ward. I’m going to
thank the teacher who believed in me and encouraged me to be a writer.
And first, I’m going call
that little school district in Paradise, California, where I grew up. I’m going
to ask about Mrs. Ward and if there is a way to contact her, I’m going to take a piece of paper and write her a note and tell her
just what her words meant to a fourth-grade girl.
Do you have a person in
your childhood who encouraged you to follow your dreams?
Do you have a treasured
childhood book that you will keep forever?
