Candace Fleming

The summer I turned ten, my mother instituted a new house rule–NO READING AT THE DINNER TABLE! She wrote it– in red crayon–on a piece of construction paper, which she taped on the dining room wall: NO READING AT THE DINNER TABLE! Without it, my father would have forked up salad and read about fly fishing, my teenaged sister would have flipped through the latest issue of Seventeen magazine, and I would have devoured yet another Nancy Drew mystery along with my pork chop. But my mother–no reading slouch herself–wanted to hear more than pages turning at dinner.

“Let’s talk,” she said.

“About what?” we asked.

From my place at the kitchen table I could see The Secret of the Old Attic sitting, tent-shaped, on the counter just waiting for me.

The four of us looked at each other for a few, long seconds.

Then my mother said, “Read any good books lately?”

Had we ever! We answered with a flood of titles, and an avalanche of plot summaries. It was forty-five minutes before we got up from that table.

If you haven’t guessed it by now, my family was book crazy.

Books excited us.

They transformed us.

They ticked and delighted us.

I remember one Saturday afternoon my father suddenly leaped to his feet, flung on his jacked and grabbed up his car keys.

“Where are you going?” my mother asked.

“To the library,” he said. “I need something to read. I need a book.”

It’s funny how such a small incident can reveal such a big truth. At that moment I came to realize that my family didn’t just like books, we needed them. We needed them the way we needed air, water–and since it’s on my list of life-sustaining elements–hot fudge sundaes.

Basically, we couldn’t live without them.

Of course, if I wasn’t reading a good story, I was telling one.

I learned at an early age that details were the key to a believable tale and so . . .

I regaled friends with stories about my three-legged cat Spot. (Notice that “three-legged” detail?)

I told neighbors about the pirate ghost (complete with peg leg and parrot) that lived in our attic.

And in second grade, I told my teacher, Miss Johnson, all about my family’s trip to Paris, France. This was an especially exhilarating experience because Miss Johnson had been to Paris herself and each day she peppered me with more questions about the place.

“Did you take the elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower?” she asked one morning.

“Oh, yes,” I answered. Then inspired, I continued, “And when we got to the top, my dad asked a Frenchman to take a picture of our whole family. And while we posed, my brand-new yellow hat blew off, and sailed away over the roofs of Paris, and I cried, so my father bought me a new one.” (Thank goodness I’d been reading Madeline.)

Anyway, that hat detail was my downfall. Miss Johnson believed my Paris story and– gulp!–she telephoned my parents. She wanted them to share our vacation photos, so the rest of the second grade could learn about Paris!

I can just imagine that phone call.

Miss Johnson: I didn’t know you went to Paris, France, on your summer vacation.

My mother: We didn’t. Candy has told another story.

Luckily, I had parents and a second-grade teacher who encouraged my imagination. Instead of calling me a fibber, they called me a storyteller. They encouraged me to write my stories down.

So I did.

And I still do. Writing stories–whether they are true or imagined–has been a joy and a compulsion ever since. And you want to know a secret? Whenever possible, I try to include a three-legged cat in my story. (Hint: See Imogene’s Last Stand).

Author Bookshelf
		The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School Written by Candace Fleming eBook Hero's a chapter book of contemporary fables about a rambunctious group of fourth graders and their amazing teacher—the globe-trotting, Mayan-ceremonial-robe-wearing Mr. Jupiter—that is sure to delight students and teachers alike. There's Calvin Tallywong, who wants to go back to kindergarten. But when he actually gets the chance, he's forced to do... Read More
		The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School Written by Candace Fleming Hardcover Library Binding Hero's a chapter book of contemporary fables about a rambunctious group of fourth graders and their amazing teacher—the globe-trotting, Mayan-ceremonial-robe-wearing Mr. Jupiter—that is sure to delight students and teachers alike. There's Calvin Tallywong, who wants to go back to kindergarten. But when he actually gets the chance, he's forced to do... Read More
		The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School Written by Candace Fleming Hardcover Hero's a chapter book of contemporary fables about a rambunctious group of fourth graders and their amazing teacher—the globe-trotting, Mayan-ceremonial-robe-wearing Mr. Jupiter—that is sure to delight students and teachers alike. There's Calvin Tallywong, who wants to go back to kindergarten. But when he actually gets the chance, he's forced to do... Read More
		The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School Written by Candace Fleming Trade Paperback These contemporary “fables” are instructive, hilarious, and now in paperback! The fourth graders at Aesop Elementary are, well, unusual. There’s Calvin Tallywong, who wants to go back to kindergarten. But when he actually gets the chance, he’s forced to do the squirrel dance and wear a yellow-school-bus name tag. The moral of... Read More
		The Great and Only Barnum: The Tremendous, Stupendous Life of Showman P. T. Barnum Written by Candace Fleming Illustrated by Ray Fenwick Hardcover Step right up! Meet the astounding . . . the amazing . . . P. T. Barnum! The award-winning author of The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary, Our Eleanor, and Ben Franklin’s Almanac brings us the larger-than-life biography of showman P. T. Barnum. Known far and wide for his... Read More
		The Great and Only Barnum: The Tremendous, Stupendous Life of Showman P. T. Barnum Written by Candace Fleming Illustrated by Ray Fenwick Hardcover Library Binding Step right up! Meet the astounding . . . the amazing . . . P. T. Barnum! The award-winning author of The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary, Our Eleanor, and Ben Franklin’s Almanac brings us the larger-than-life biography of showman P. T. Barnum. Known far and wide for his... Read More
		Imogene's Last Stand Written by Candace Fleming Illustrated by Nancy Carpenter Hardcover Meet Imogene, a plucky heroine with a passion for history. As a baby, Imogene's first words were “Four score and seven years ago.” In preschool, she fingerpainted a map of the Oregon Trail. So it’s not surprising that when the mayor wants to tear down the long-neglected Liddleton Historical Society to make... Read More
		Imogene's Last Stand Written by Candace Fleming Illustrated by Nancy Carpenter Hardcover Library Binding Meet Imogene, a plucky heroine with a passion for history. As a baby, Imogene's first words were “Four score and seven years ago.” In preschool, she fingerpainted a map of the Oregon Trail. So it’s not surprising that when the mayor wants to tear down the long-neglected Liddleton Historical Society to make... Read More
		The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary Written by Candace Fleming Hardcover Library Binding THE AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR of Ben Franklin’s Almanac and Our Eleanor has created an enthralling joint biography of our greatest president and his complex wife unlike any other—a scrapbook history that uses photographs, letters, engravings, and even cartoons, along with a fascinating text, to form an enthralling museum on the page. Here... Read More
		The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary Written by Candace Fleming Hardcover THE AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR of Ben Franklin’s Almanac and Our Eleanor has created an enthralling joint biography of our greatest president and his complex wife unlike any other—a scrapbook history that uses photographs, letters, engravings, and even cartoons, along with a fascinating text, to form an enthralling museum on the page. Here... Read More