Cinderella story
By Dave
May 21st, 2008 | Leave a comment
I’m doing official DelMio work, having picked up a copy of Walt Disney’s Cinderella, Retold by Cynthia Rylant. Rylant is a former Kent (Ohio) resident and a pretty well-known children’s book writer. She’s no Madonna, but there’s only room in this world for one Madonna, and Madonna has it.
Anyway, a story to file under “Small World,” it turns out that two of the six books we’re exploring for the Ohio Center for the Book have authors who not only knew each other but one helped the other get started in the publishing biz. Rylant had two small children a decade or two ago and she hired Angela Johnson to watch her kids. Various bios describe the job alternately as “nanny” or “baby sitter.” In any event, Rylant eventually discovered Johnson’s writing talent and helped shepherd the young writer through the publishing jungle. And then Johnson went and bought Rylant’s house when she and her partner, “Captain Underpants” author Dav Pilkey, moved out of Kent.
Johnson has a reputation for being a recluse. No listing in the phone book. No personal Web site or Facebook entry, apparently. She has been interviewed, but does not play the publicity game much. I guess she prefers to express herself through writing.
Dave Wilson is the Grand Pooh-Bah of Editorial Content at DelMio.com, a site developed by SunLit Communications LLC. He also is at times janitor, chauffeur, chief cook and bottle washer. Once upon a time he was a metro editor and copy editor at the Akron Beacon Journal. Send love letters and trash talk to dave.wilson@delmio.com. Or post a comment. Whatever.
