The Backwards Blog Tour: Eager Readers!
(yeah, this guy!)
NOW! Introducing and announcing with great fanfare!!! A brand-spanking new blog feature! An invention!
EAGER READERS: A BACKWARDS BLOG TOUR!
Why a backwards blog tour? you ask…
No particular reason. Just seemed like fun!
What’s a backwards blog tour? you ask…
Well, instead of running around the blogosphere, answering other people’s random (and often repetitive) questions… I’m inviting other folks here, to answer ONE question!
What question might that be? you ask…
Why, I’m glad you’re so curious! The question is: WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER/LOVE/ HATE ABOUT READING EDWARD EAGER? Hence the name of the blog feature: Eager Readers!
Now, right about this time you might be thinking, Hey, tthat sounds totally random, Laurel!
And it does sound random, I know…but see, I have a reason for all of this madness.
Because my new book, Any Which Wall, is a tribute to Edward Eager. Best known for having penned Half Magic, Eager in fact wrote a slew of funny, imaginative books betwen 1952 and 1962. In these books, regular children, living in America, encountered magic, made mistakes, and had a lot of fun in a an everyday way. Eager really helped pave the way (along with his hero, Edith Nesbit) for all the magic books kids love today. Percy Jackson, Potter, etc…
Though of course, he wasn’t perfect, and not everyone loves him as I do. (and if you don‘t love him, please shoot me an email and tell me why!)
But in trying to learn more about him, and in attempting to track down his family, I hit brick walls everywhere. There’s just not much to be found. I went in search of his grandchildren, and came up empty handed…
So instead of skipping blithely around the blogosphere this month, talking about myself, and harassing you all with amazon links at every turn… I thought I’d celebrate my book release by asking the blogosphere to come over here, for a party, to discuss and share tidbits and memories about this mysterious man. Eagerly!
Do you loathe his treatment of women?
Do you admire his use of herb gardens?
Do you have a particular memory of something from one of his books?
PLEASE SHARE!
I hereby beg for/ request/ welcome/ invite thoughts from other people who have memories or thoughts about the books and life of Edward Eager. I’d welcome anyone’s comments, and will happily post anything I get at laurelsnyder (at) hotmail.com.
Stay tuned for more!!!
Tags: any which wall, Eager Readers, edward eager
June 6th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
I loved Edward Eager from the moment I stumbled across Half Magic, in our tiny school library, and read the first half page sometime back in the mid 60s. It was one of the best and most memorable books I read as a child – ranking right up there with Charlotte’s Web, The Wizard of Oz, and The Wind in the Willows. I never forgot the book, but didn’t see it again until thirty years later and hundreds of miles away during a boring PTA meeting in my sons’ even measlier school library. I turned to look at the bookshelf (to hide my rolling eyes) and there was Half Magic nudging my elbow. I fell in love all over again. It took another ten years, though, and a job in the children’s department of yet another library, before I discovered Eager’s other books. I’ve since read them all and recommend them often (and eagerly). In fact, Half Magic is on our list of 110 books every child should know, a list we put together commemorating our 110th anniversary as children’s department in a public library.
August 3rd, 2009 at 8:52 pm
As an author myself (“The Unreals,” a sci-fi/fantasy published in 2007), I was inspired as a youngster by many wonderful writers. Some of my fondest childhood memories revolve around reading Edward Eager’s magical works. The characters were real and I could relate to them, even though the first two books I read (“Half Magic” and “Magic By The Lake”) took place in the 1920s. As a boy, it was refreshing to find female characters that were so interesting (three of the four children in those two stories were girls).
Like Laurel, I also find the almost total lack of information about Eager’s personal life to be frustrating. It is hard to understand how such a celebrated literary figure, who didn’t die until 1964, could leave so few biographical footprints behind him. I also have tried to track down any family members, with just as little success.