April 14, 2003
Karon tells a grandmother' story in 'Miss Fannie'
___By Cecile Holmes
___Religion News Service
___WASHINGTON (RNS)--Thinking back, award-winning author Jan Karon revels in recalling her grandmother's stories.
___"I loved hearing about her life and how people used to live," Karon said in explaining a special children's Easter book she has written to celebrate the generosity of spirit Christians seek to embody during the Easter season.
___"I loved hearing about her many beaus and suitors and her five proposals of marriage," Karon said of her grandmother. "What it was like to go to school. What they wore. What they ate. ... I learned a lot from her, but most of all, I learned to love stories."
___When "Mama"--as Karon called her--died at age 100, her granddaughter wanted to honor her and her legacy with a special book.
___The result is the engaging children's story "Miss Fannie's Hat," first published in 1998 and now reissued for Easter by Augsburg Books. The special edition, appealing to both girls and boys, includes a CD of the author reading the story and talking about the real Miss Fannie.
___Karon, creator of the well-known Mitford book series about a villag
e in the Blue Ridge Mountains, is a writer known for accomplishing what some once considered impossible. Her Mitford books have been so popular with readers that she has crossed over from Christian to mainstream circles.
___With "Miss Fannie's Hat," her first children's book, she manages to bridge another great divide--creating a book with so lovable a heroine that even modern, computer-savvy kids will want to read it again and again.
___Miss Fannie is the sort of unforgettable, indomitable woman many remember from Sunday School. A tiny lady with a huge heart and an enormous collection of hats, Miss Fannie gains a real treat when she gives up her favorite Easter Sunday hat to help raise money in her church's auction.
___"People have loved it, boys and girls," said Karon, whose books have become so popular that she rarely grants interviews. "I would caution people not to think a boy is a sissy if he likes Miss Fannie.
___"I created Miss Fannie to be an elder for boys and girls. In today's world, the grandmother lives in New Mexico and mom and dad and the children live in Pennsylvania."
___She desired to help children see an old person as "someone who was, in many ways, like themselves," Karon said. "The book begins: 'Miss Fannie was very old and had grown to be about the same size she was as a little girl.'"
___But like the children who will read the book, Miss Fannie has a big decision to make because she "was not eager to share what she loved."
___Such simple lessons and basic truths about human relationships are standard in Karon's books. Relationships are the focal point of the Mitford books and of this one. In all of them, Karon's characters search for--and find--meaning and hope.
___In "Miss Fannie's Hat," readers find that Miss Fannie and her daughter, Miss Wanda, live together. Miss Wanda cooks each morning. And always, Miss Fannie says she won't eat much.
___"Miss Wanda tries to mind because Miss Fannie is her mama," Karon writes. "But she forgets, and brings her a piece of sausage, buttered toast with jelly, a scrambled egg and a cup of herb tea.
___"'Oh, my! That's way too much,' Miss Fannie always says. But then she goes and eats it all up."
___Miss Fannie's strength of character, fun-loving spirit and generous heart emerge from Karon's prose. The book also includes reusable stickers and a storyboard for children.
___Meanwhile, Karon is writing the second-to-last Mitford novel.
___"Once we've done the final novel in 2005, it will be a total of nine novels," she explained.
___Although many readers demand it continue, Karon insists the series must stop when it should. "The story ends at a certain place, just like all of our stories have an ending. I have no information beyond the end God has given me. I'm not going to force it. I always want to write authentically."
___And Karon is ready for fresh horizons.
___"The first thing I want to do after I catch my breath is to get in a very upscale RV with a very darling little dog and write a book about a couple in their sixties who set out to see America.," Karon said. "It's a couple who haven't ever been anywhere or seen anything."
___Their names are Ray and Irma. One morning Ray turns to his wife and says, "What's the matter, sugarbabe?"
___And Irma says, "I'm just give out."
___"Anything I can do to help?" asks Ray.
___She turns around and says, "Ray, I want to go to Disney World."
___And that's how their adventure will begin, Karon said.
___
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