10/19/2021
"I want reading my books to feel effortless. I'm
trying to write stories that are so captivating that kids will look up after an
hour and feel like they'd been watching a movie in their head." --Dan
Gutman
Today is the 66th birthday of famed children’s author,
Dan Gutman. Known for his funny rhymes
and relatable texts, his books range from stories about what can happen in a
classroom to tales of baseball greats. Today we will learn a little bit about
the author himself.
Dan grew up
playing Little League baseball in Newark, New Jersey and went on to obtain a
degree in psychology from Rutgers. While in graduate school, he realized that
psychology was not really the field he wanted to be in; instead, he wanted to
be a writer. He started his writing career cranking out humorous essays for
newspapers and magazines with limited success, and eventually started a magazine
himself, capitalizing on the Pac Man videogame craze. The magazine, Video
Game Player, eventually became Computer Games but eventually went
under, which led Gutman to a life of freelance writing.
Most of his early pieces were about computers, which he
admits was odd because he knew very little about computers. Gutman's love of sports,
especially baseball, never dimmed, and he began writing about those topics
after this son was born, focusing on books for kids. It was then that he
realized that was his true passion. As he puts it, “I discovered how incredibly rewarding it is to take a blank
page and turn it into a WORLD.” (Gutman, 2020-2025)
We are excited to carry so many of
his works and glad to share his talents with our schools and libraries. To find
his books in our collection, click here.