When Old Friends Become New by Darlene Beck Jacobson

 

This past August I had the pleasure of attending my 50th high school reunion. It was wonderful to see some of the people I have kept in touch with over the years as well as those I haven't seen since graduation. Sharing stories of "yesteryear" and trying our best to answer yearbook trivia questions brought back some memories as well as a lot of laughs. 

As I work on a new middle grade novel, I am brought back to some of the stories and books I enjoyed from that era. One author's voice in particular has invaded my thoughts and made its way into my WIP. I  have had a reunion of sorts with A.A. Milne.      

 

The beloved author of Winnie the Pooh and the other characters in THE HUNDRED ACRE WOOD turns out to be a favorite of the main character in my current WIP. When I was looking for something my character Toby could relate to and share, it became apparent that I needed a book that felt like a character itself. 

 

Toby spends a lot of time in the woods adjacent to his home and feels most at home among the birds and forest trees. At first I wondered would Toby relate to A SECRET GARDEN?   

 After rereading this classic, I decided that it wasn't quite right for the tone and spirit I wanted to convey. I needed something with a bit more whimsy.  

 

 

So I turned to THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS.  This had plenty of wonderful animal characters, but where was the boy I needed, Toby needed, to make the story relatable.

 

 

 

 

 Enter the book I remembered so fondly from my own childhood and the poems titled WHEN WE WERE VERY YOUNG.

Halfway Down"  (a poem from the book)

"Halfway down the stairs is a stair where I sit. There isn't any other stair quite like it. I'm not at the bottom, I'm not at the top; so this is the stair where I always stop.

Halfway up the stairs isn't up, and isn't down. It isn't in the nursery, it isn't in  the town.

And all sorts of funny thoughts run round my head: It isn't really anywhere! It somewhere else instead!"

- A. A. Milne

BINGO! Toby has a tree house, halfway up and halfway down a big oak tree. It's somewhere else, somewhere special - right in the middle of his own hundred acre wood. Toby can be Christopher Robin in his favorite place.

 

 

  And I can have a reunion of my own - revisiting an old friend from the past. Still resonating 50 years later.

 

Darlene Beck Jacobson likes to sit halfway down the stairs and think about things as she plans her stories. While she's never had a tree house of her own, she enjoys hanging out in the woods and listening to the wisdom of nature.