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Andy Nelson |
Shy school librarian finds success as author
Laura Schlitz lives out her own real-life fable – her children's book is 'discovered,' wins a prestigious award, and fame comes knocking.
from the March 14, 2008 edition
Page 2 of 3
The monologues are finely crafted miniatures of life in 13th-century England, rendered in rich language, metered verse, and rhythmic prose. They offer an unflinching depiction of feudal life – this is not Camelot, as one reviewer noted – filled with violence, poverty, crime, pestilence, and early death. Weaving in prodigious research, Schlitz creates a detailed mosaic of a place in time (there have been comparisons to Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales") studded with small gems of character portrait.
Each year the Park fifth-graders choose the village character they find most compelling – Edgar, the falconer's son; Giles the beggar; Isobel, the lord's daughter; or any of the roughly two dozen young denizens of Schlitz's village – and spend months learning about the Middle Ages through their character.
Schlitz perches on a stool in a fifth-grade classroom, coaching the children as they practice their monologues. This year, for the first time, the students can use the hard-bound, Newbery-winning edition, with the stunning illustrations by Robert Byrd. As she listens, Schlitz's lips move slightly, almost imperceptibly, following the words as they're recited. "That was beautiful," she says, clapping for a student's character portrayal. She is clearly moved by the performance; Schlitz wrote these pieces to be performed, to be spoken, to have a life beyond the page.
Schlitz is a spinner of tales, and she plays the part well. She is known as a mesmerizing storyteller, performing more than 100 stories a year for her library classes. Her amateur acting experience helps her bring the stories to life, and years of writing plays for children's theaters, locally and nationally, has honed her dramatic techniques. She even looks the part of archetypal fairy godmother, with a fountain of waist-long white hair, a penchant for flowing skirts and blousy tops, a weakness for floppy hats, and eyes that do, honestly, twinkle.
But she's never played the part of famous author before. "The first couple of weeks I had a big bouquet of flowers by my bed, and when I woke up in the middle of the night, and the flowers were still there, I thought, OK, it's true, I really did win the Newbery Award," she says.
The mail pours in: the congratulations, the strangers seeking advice "about things I know nothing about," the invitations to speak. The first printing of her book has completely sold out, and a second printing – with the Newbery gold sticker – is yet to be released. Bookstores have waiting lists, while entrepreneurial dealers are selling first editions of "Good Masters" to collectors for up to $120. Schlitz is simply amazed.
"The one thing that hasn't changed a whole lot is my writing, and that was a big relief to me," she says. "I sat down to work on Chapter 28 of the book I'm working on now, and the anxious person who is sure no sentence is good enough was still at my side."
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