Avi

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Old Books

Captain GreyI recent­ly received a bunch of let­ters from a group of fifth graders whose teacher read them Cap­tain Grey. This book, my first his­tor­i­cal nov­el, was pub­lished in 1977. That’s to say it was writ­ten some thir­ty-sev­en years ago. I have strong mem­o­ries of how and where I wrote Cap­tain Grey, but in truth, I have few rec­ol­lec­tions of the book’s details, oth­er than the gen­er­al plot. The kids’ let­ters name char­ac­ters, and recall inci­dents, which I’ve long for­got­ten. What a plea­sure to know they enjoyed the book so much. In that sense, I think the book belongs far more to them, now, than to me. Still, it’s love­ly to be remind­ed that old books are always new books to new read­ers. In this sense the books I once wrote have a kind of eter­nal youth, which, I can assure you I have not. Can you hear my sigh? I am envi­ous of my old books!

4 thoughts on “Old Books”

  1. I wish I had known your books as a young stu­dent. Now as a 40+ year old I am enjoy­ing read­ing your “old” books myself and to my two chil­dren! In fact, I just checked out two more at the library last night–“Bright Shad­ow” and “Per­loo”.

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  2. Per­son­al­ly I enjoy Call of the Wild, though some peo­ple think it’s bor­ing! I’m sur­prised, because it’s an excit­ing sto­ry with lots of action. I love it, and I read it when I was 9.

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