So long, Carol
By Allen A. Raymond, Publisher

Carol Hurst 1933-2007

In fact, I am sure that is the way she would want us to remember her – with joy and laughter as we recalled the good times we enjoyed together.

So, as a large group of us gathered with her daughters and family at Carol's house in Westfield, MA, on January 25th, we did indeed celebrate the joy of knowing we'd been a part of Carol's universe.

But, still, there were tears. That was when one of Carol's daughters put an arm around me, and our tears had soon turned to laughter as we recounted the many magical moments we'd shared with Carol.

She attended the sales meetings of our Teaching K-8 staff. She spoke before huge crowds at conventions of The International Reading Association. She was the star attraction at meetings held by some of this country's largest children's book publishers.

At all of these events Carol, reading from children's books, demonstrated how those books could be used in the classroom. She was very, very good at it, and her rendition (and it was indeed a "rendition") of Loudmouse (Harcourt, 1963) was classic Carol.

That book is out of print, but the Harcourt office in Florida sent us its only copy so that I could relive my memories of Carol (thank you, Joanne and Lori).

So, as I've been reading and re-reading Loudmouse, written by Richard Wilbur, I've remembered how Carol, with her low-keyed but wildly effective facial expressions and a voice that could roar or whisper, would tell all of us the story of Loudmouse.

The late and famous Dr. Leland Jacobs, a poet and longtime professor at Columbia University, and one of Teaching K-8's columnist for many, many years (as was Carol), described her as "the greatest storyteller I have ever known."

And she was.

Three weeks before she died I made one of my periodic, unannounced and totally casual phone calls to her. Without saying who I was (I never announced myself when I called Carol), I started to needle her about nothing in particular. I have forgotten what I said, but I've not forgotten her response.

"Hello, love."

And so it was, and will always be, with Carol Hurst.

"Hello, love."

Patricia Broderick and I met Carol when, with our financial backs to the wall and needing more income for this magazine (at that time called Early Years), we decided to create and sponsor teacher workshops.

Our first workshop was held at Mt. Holyoke College in August, 1974. Carol, a school librarian who had been recruited by the man who was assembling our workshop staff, was the teacher who would talk about children's books. She changed our lives.

Carol began writing a monthly column for us, a relationship that continued until her retirement 25 years later.

In her "retirement" Carol wrote several books for children, and her newest, Terrible Storm (Greenwillow, 2007), which received an ALA "starred review," arrived just before she died. It will be reviewed in our April issue, and on our website.

So long, Carol. It's been nice knowing you. Really nice.

Allen Raymond is the Editor/Publisher for Teaching Pre K-8.

March, 2007, Vol.37, No.6