A Real-Life Fairy Tale about Books, Friendship, and Our Interconnected World

Years ago, I received a message from a math teacher in Turkey, Feyza Demir, who wanted to know how she could get a copy of my third-grade-level chapter book, 7 x 9 = Trouble! 

So I bundled up a copy of the book, as well as its sequel, Fractions = Trouble!, and shipped them off to her in Istanbul, figuring out the customs form and carefully copying a long address onto my package of which I could read hardly any of the words.

But the package found its way across thousands of miles to her mailbox, and we become Facebook friends, corresponding now and then as the years passed. 

Then, during the pandemic, she invited me and G. Brian Karas, illustrator of both books, to do a ZOOM school visit with her class, which was a total joy, even though (because of the time change) it was in the middle of the night for both Brian and me. That made it feel even more like a wondrous fantasy.

Recently, I learned that both Fractions = Trouble! and my brand-new book, Calliope Callisto Clark and the Search for Wisdom, are going to be published in a Turkish edition by Beyaz Balina, which also at some time in the past did a Turkish edition of 7 x 9 = Trouble! Hmmm. Apparently, Feyza told them that the works of this important American author needed to reach a Turkish audience!

But the story gets better... the story is about to turn truly magical....

Feyza told Beyaz Balina that she would like to be the one to translate Calliope's story,  although she had never done any translation work before. Appropriately, they asked her to submit a sample translation of the opening chapters, which she did... and... drum roll.... they have offered her a contract to translate the book! She and I, two friends from afar, bonded through books, are now going to be co-creators of a book we make TOGETHER!

She is over the moon about this, and I am, too. Here is her exuberant Facebook post sharing this news with the world. The only thing I can read in it is my name, but the joy shines through.

Çok sevdiğim yazar Claudia Mills ile binlerce kilometre öteden kurduğumuz bağ, bugün onun son kitabının çevirmeni olacağım haberiyle taçlandı.

Ben ona bu sürprizi söylemeye hazırlanırken, onun bana imzalayıp gönderdiği kitabın kapımı çalması? İşte buna “evrenin göz kırpması” deniyor sanırım! Felsefe odaklı yoğun bir yaz şimdiden beni bekliyor. Belki kitabın çıkışını sonbaharda Claudia ile burada, İstanbul’da birlikte kutlarız? Kim bilir, bazı masallar belki de gerçektir!

Luckily, Facebook lets you click on the option for a translation:

The bond we have built with the author I love very much, Claudia Mills, has been crowned today by the news that I will be the translator of her last book.

As I was getting ready to tell her this surprise, the book she signed and sent to me knocked on my door? I guess this is called the "wink of the universe"! A busy summer focused on philosophy is already ahead. Maybe we will celebrate the book's release together with Claudia here in Istanbul in the fall? Who knows, maybe some fairy tales are true!

Yes, some fairy tales ARE true, indeed.

The world right now is not my favorite place... this terrible war... so many terrible things everywhere. But this is a beautiful thing.

The world has beautiful things in it, too.

And this is one of them.