Early Explorer

Tunie is the name loved ones gave me shortly after my birth in Chicago, Illinois. And the one virtually everyone has called me ever since, even though my legal given name is Carolyn. At the age of seven, I moved with my mom (Violet), dad (George, aka Swede), and brother (Kenny) to the “Town of Tomorrow.” That’s what the ads in the Chicago Tribune called the farmland where houses sprouted up faster than the rows of corn they replaced. The schools, the churches, literally everything, was brand-spanking new. At first, not even a handful of people who lived there were over the age of 35. So I felt a youthful, vibrant energy in this place we now called home. I loved the freedom to roam far and wide, on my bike and on foot.

I put on plays, trekked a few miles to a swimming pool and the old library in the nearest neighboring town, and played outside after dark on summer nights. My family and I made frequent visits to Chicago as our larger-than-life extended family jumped at any excuse to get together. A source of wonder and joy, for instance, were our noisy Christmas Eves—with doting aunties, presents piled high, seconds on Swedish meatballs and homemade rice pudding, then Santa, coming down from the rooftop to sing a carol or two before continuing on his rounds. Writing stories and poems made me happy, and some of that writing, from the age of eight through my college years, had a magical way of bringing unexpected good fortune and even a little fame in my direction. To find out how, visit TRANSFORMATIVE WRITING.

Change-Makers

After a stint at Vogue Magazine in New York City as a copywriter, I married my college sweetheart, Peter Benson, The #1 reason? He made me laugh. (To this day, if you make me laugh, I’ll follow you anywhere.) We recognized in each other a love for new ideas, not to mention the impulse to be change agents in this world. The impact of my late life partner’s work ultimately led to travels to far-off places, a TED Talk, his conversation with the Dalai Lama, and a formal dinner at the White House—all of it, a magical part of my life as well.

As a writer, teacher, and lit lover, I’ve been a change agent, too. My most blissful teaching assignment came in an “open school” with few interior walls and no desks—multi-aged groups of students doing hands-on activities with teams of teachers. But in any of my classrooms, read-aloud time was holy, literature-based reading was the norm, and rituals based on guides like Teaching Children to Care resulted in a compassionate, creative community of learners. A masters in experiential education and leadership also informed how I taught.

Wordsmith & Book Maven

My first middle grade novel, A Fistful of Sun, came out only weeks before daughter Liv arrived in the world, her brother Kai’s birth almost six years later. When Liv went off to kindergarten, I found few books in her classroom and no free time to engage with any. With her teacher’s blessing  I created what became the Book Nook Program. A celebration of children’s literature, it quickly expanded to other classrooms, then to other districts in Minnesota. It was a joy to invite teachers and program volunteers to experience workshops as true partners in children’s year-long exposure to rotating themed collections of the best of picture books, beckoning in K-6 classroom book nooks. Volunteers brought in the books and took turns reading aloud and celebrating them. It was a dream come true to witness how the program (featured in the Horn Book Magazine) enriched the lives of students, teachers, and parents alike.

At a University of Minnesota symposium, I later learned about the impact of early read-alouds on infants’ and toddlers’ brain development. After further study, I founded the Early Bird Project. As “head chick”—first, at a large pilot site, then at workshops for preschool teachers and public librarians—I recommended collections of best “baby” books along with ideas for “extended talk” and activity centers. The focus was not on drills or skills, but on playful, delightful engagement with books to instill a lifelong love of reading and books.

Pathfinder

Ever the explorer of new possibilities, I’ve learned that the world is always in the process of evolution. And so am I. I’ve returned to a focus on writing children’s and YA fiction as well as writing that explores life-enriching, mind-expanding ways to be.

I live in a kind of “tree house” in Minnesota, glad that young grandsons Ryder and Truman live close by. As I write this, a half dozen deer are parading by my windows. My writing companion and pooch Tucker, who went to Dog Heaven at age 19, would have loved to bark at them from his window perch. I’m called periodically to new places on the planet as well as familiar ones. My favorites are tiny Mallard Island near the Canadian border (for me, the closest thing to Neverland) and a mountaintop near Santa Fe, New Mexico. The soundtrack of my life includes everything from hip hop breakbeats to music for meditating. Walks in woods and near water as well as beloved family members and friends are cause for daily thanks.

In my twenties, I admired the life and work of Anaïs Nin. (She lived on a houseboat in France. She hung out with artists and writers and wrote experimental fiction. She published her diaries to great acclaim.) Only a year before she died, I wrote her a “love letter,” expressing my admiration for the creative and fearless way she lived her life. To my astonishment, she wrote back! I framed the letter and committed her last line to memory:

"Everything I dreamed has become reality; we can create our own world.”