Allison's Book Bag

Because two of her books were nominated as Golden Sowers, I’m posting Pam Muñoz Ryan’s biography today and will post reviews of her books tomorrow to wrap up the week. Born and raised in California, Pam Muñoz Ryan comes from a background that is an ethnic mix of Spanish, Mexican, Basque, Italian, and Oklahoman. Many of her books explore her Mexican background.

The oldest of three sisters and the oldest of twenty-three cousins on her mother’s  side, many of her childhood memories revolve around big, noisy family gatherings with nearby relatives. Her grandmother on her mother’s side came to the United States from Mexico in the 1930s. They lived around the corner, while her Oklahoman grandmother lived in a nearby town. On her website, Ryan says that when she was with one, she often ate enchiladas, rice, and beans. When she was with  the other, she ate black-eyed peas, fried okra, and peach cobblers.

My grandparents on my mom’s side lived in my hometown. On holidays, all the relatives on my mom’s side would gather together at their home. Through my grandparents, I grew up being exposed to unique home-cooked Newfoundland dishes. They passed away before I moved to the Midwest in 1998. I still miss them.

Ryan’s memories also revolve around books and libraries. For example, until the end of fourth grade at McKinley Elementary, Ryan would walk to her Mexican grandmother’s house after school, where she sometimes had to draw upon her own resources to entertain herself. One of her earliest memories about books is that my grandmother had a set of encyclopedias. She’d tip each of these volumes out of its space, look at the top to see if there were any sections printed in color, and then go to those spots in the book. In primary grades, I loved reading sections of The New Book of Knowledge and my dad’s Richard’s Topical Encyclopedia.

The summer before fifth grade, Ryan’s family moved across town. She became the new kid on the block and at school. Not fitting in, she spent much of her free time riding her bike to the local library to borrow books. It was through books that she coped and fit in. They filled her imagination with possibilities and allowed her to ‘try on’ many lives different from her own. My family moved the summer before I entered fourth grade, but our move didn’t change what school I attended. Going to a new school in seventh grade is what most changed my life. That’s when I became a fan of problem books and movies.

In junior high, Ryan became the editor of the school newspaper, which was printed from a mimeograph machine in purple ink. Although English and composition were her strongest subjects, she didn’t pursue any writing electives in high school. I had the opposite experience. For the most part in junior high, I didn’t pursue any writing except poems. Then in high school, I started a newspaper of which I made myself editor and a drama club for which I wrote the scripts. I also enrolled in creative writing courses, both at my school and through correspondence.

Ryan wanted a profession that something to do with books and thought that would be teaching. Her first job after college  graduation, immediately following the Vietnam War, was as the Red Cross Coordinator for all of the Vietnamese playschools at the relocation camps at the U.S. Navy Base at Camp Pendleton. After getting married, she taught for three years as a bilingual Head Start teacher. Then, after her children were born, she stayed home part-time with them and taught part-time at a local preschool. Even when Ryan’s children reached elementary school and she returned to school to get her Master’s degree in Post-secondary Education, her thoughts remained on teaching.

One day after Ryan finished her Master’s, a professor asked her to stay after class. She asked if Ryan had ever considered professional writing as a career or avocation. When Ryan said no, her professor encouraged her. And so the seed was planted.

Today Pam Muñoz Ryan has written over twenty-five books for young people. She draws on the rich cultural heritage of her family background, as well as important segments of American history. Many of her books explore aspects of the Latino experience in  America, or illuminate little-known but significant episodes in American history. All of  her books are based on extensive research. In an interview with Scholastic, Ryan says,  “Part of the appeal of writing is similar to the enchantment of reading. They are both  quests. Except when I write, I’m the creator and choose the path.”