Is thirty good? (answer...yes.)

Teaching Pre K-8, May 2001 by Raymond, Allen

This issue marks Teaching K-8's 30th Anniversary but, unlike a Silver Anniversary (25th) or a Golden Anniversary (50th), a 30th Anniversary is no big deal - except, maybe, to those of us who have nurtured this magazine with loving care for all of those 30 years. For us, it's a big deal. Very big.

We don't look back, however - except to perhaps remind ourselves of how the world has changed and how far we've come. Thirty years ago, as I recall, there were no desktop computers, and certainly, there were no fax machines, no Internet and no cell phones.

That was May, 1971, and we had never met Carol Hurst, who has been reviewing children's books for us (and for you) since 1973 - plus writing a second monthly column for us, "In the Library," which first appeared in 1980.

Nor had we met Susan Hirschman, founder of Greenwillow Books and now a good friend, who is retiring on August 1.

When we profiled Susan in our May, 1987, issue (with her photograph on the cover), we wrote, with conviction based on fact, that "Susan Hirschman will be remembered as one of this country's most important editors of children's books."

She of course disagreed, and in her typically self-deprecating way - as we recited the names of the authors and artists she has nurtured - responded, "...you would have to be blind and deaf not to recognize their talents." Not so. It takes talent to recognize talent. Not all of us have what it takes. Susan does.

So, on the evidence, the facts belie her self-effacing modesty, because the careers she helped launch comprise an honor roll which recognizes and celebrates Susan Hirschman's uncanny ability to discover talent and nurture it along.

The names of those she has so lovingly brought into the world of children's literature include Kevin Henkes, Arnold and Anita Lobel, Peggy Parish, Eve Rice, Ann Jonas, Chris Crutcher, Diana Wynne Jones, Tana Hoban, Pat Hutchins and Jack Prelutsky.

She's also worked over the years with Donald Crews, James Stevenson, Charlotte Zolotow, Aliki, Sid Fleischman, Vera Williams and many, many more.

And now we can proudly add to that list - a list which is indeed Susan Hirschman's lasting legacy - the name of our own Carol Hurst, whose first picture book, Rocks in His Head, has just been published by Greenwillow, coinciding, incidentally, with the publication of her first novel, Through the Lock (Houghton Mifflin). Carol is definitely on a roll. We profile her this month, beginning on page 44.

The success and national recognition showered on so many of the teachers who write for us, and also on the many others in education whom we've met over these last 30 years, has made us feel good.

Thus, on this our 30th Anniversary, we extend our thanks to all of you who teach in the classroom. Yours is not an easy job. To the contrary, it is a hard, demanding, challenging and often frustrating profession. Nevertheless, you carry it off with panache, and that is why nothing makes us feel better than our monthly visits to your classrooms.

For 30 years you have been our idols and we feel fortunate that we have been able to enter your lives through the pages of this magazine. Have a great summer.. we'll see you again in early August.