I’ve never much liked that old saying, “You learn something new every day”; it just seems too obvious for most people, like me, who pay attention to what’s going on in the world. Nonetheless, I am frequently reminded that the saying is true.
Take today, for instance. I hardly noticed the reference, in Garrison Keillor’s The Writers’ Almanac, to this being the 90th birthday of Newbery Medal-winning children’s book author Sid Fleischman. But then Bill Crider posted in his blog the terrific, Barye Phillips-illustrated cover from one of Fleischman’s early novels for adults, Shanghai Flame (1951), published under the byline A.S. Fleischman. After that, I went searching on the Web for more of this writer’s grown-up fiction, turning up these two fabulous-looking works and discovering the author’s own site. Now I understand better why his birthday merited mention in The Writers’ Almanac. Fleischman has had a far more interesting life than his credit as a children’s book author reveals, having been at various times a professional magician, a newspaper reporter, and a screenwriter. I’m provoked to dig up one or two of his adults novels, if I can find them.
It just goes to show, you learn something new every day.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
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1 comment:
I don't think it's true that "you" learn something new every day, if that's supposed to equate to "all of us." I think only the fortunate "you" learns something new every day. When I am fortunate enough to learn something new, that's a good day.
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