Darleen Bailey Beard

November 20, 2021,

Dear Teachers, Principals, & Library Media Specialists,

Here we are in the 2020-21 school year.  I can’t believe this is my 31st year of doing school author visits! How can that be???? The time has flown by so quickly. In those 31 years, a lot has changed. I had my second child, divorced, was a single mom raising my children on my own for 13 years, got remarried when my daughter was in 8th grade, bought a new home and am now renting out my old home. 

Interesting story--I was showing my rental home to a potential renter and told her my name. She looked at me and said, "You're name is familiar. I know you, but I'm not sure how." I told her I am a children's book author and speak in schools. Come to find out, I did a few author visits in her school and she had some of my autographed books. She even had a couple pictures of her and I together when I had spoken at her school and autographed her books! Talk about a small world! Of course, after finding that out, I had to tell the other potential renters that I'd already found a renter. How could I resist? 

A BIG thank you goes to ALL the teachers, principals, and library media specialists who are reaching out, touching lives, loving, and encouraging children to be the very best they can be. You’re making a big difference in children’s lives—I should know, because I am one of those children.    

Love to you all,

Darleen    PS: Here's a look back at my writing journey and family life for the past 31 years . . .  

My first school visit was when my son was two years old. He and I went to a friend’s school where I read a story to her daughter’s class. It was a small story I had published in Highlight’s for Children Magazine. Spencer was so small, he stood on a chair and held up the magazine for all the children to see the pictures. Now, he’s “Ranger Beard”, a 6’ 3 1/2” ranger at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Department in Sherman, TX. 

When I think about how my writing career began, I go back to fourth grade when I had a little black and white composition book. I remember sitting in my den, watching the “Brady Bunch” and writing this sentence in my book over and over, amazed at how beautiful it was and how it created a picture with words: The leaves fell from the trees making a golden carpet. I thought that was the prettiest sentence I had ever written and I read it again and again, amazed at the words and how they came together and how they created a feeling in my heart. I think it was then, at that very moment, that I became a writer. That's when I learned that words have power, words can create images, and words can create feelings. 

It wasn’t until fifth grade when I fell in love with writing stories with my spelling words. That's when I met my teacher, Mrs. Schickling, who made us write stories with our spelling words and that's I decided I wanted to be a writer when I grew up. 

I remember Mrs. Schickling putting her arm around my shoulder saying, “Darleen, if you work really hard at this, I think you can write a real book when you grow up.” And you know what? I was young enough to believe her. I took her words for the truth because teachers told the truth—they didn’t lie—and if she thought I was a writer, well then, I was a writer! That’s the power of a teacher’s words.

Here I am in 5th grade. I'm the one with a red circle around my head. And to the far right is my wonderful tall teacher, Mrs. Schickling. (Back then, though, her name was Mrs. Etter.) She was 5' 11" tall and I loved having a teacher taller than me because I was such a tall girl that I was taller than most of my previous teachers. I was even taller than my 3rd-grade teacher! Now I am 5' 8 1/2", so I didn't quite make it as tall as my wonderful teacher. 

I’m extremely proud of my books and the fact I’ve been visiting schools, doing author visits for 31 wonderful years. What a career—how lucky I am to be able to touch the lives of thousands of students all over the U.S. And for the students to touch my life, too!

It’s been a fantastic 31-year journey and I can only say, here’s to another happy 31 years touching students’ lives and fulfilling my 5^th-grade teacher’s belief in me that I— 10-year old Darleen Bailey, shy, tall, skinny, totally awkward, and raised in a crazy, dysfunctional family—could become a real writer when I grew up. Thank you, Mrs. Schickling! You’ll never know how much of a difference you made in my life!