Love Naomi

Last week, the Reading Page featured an interview with Geoffrey Wolff, director of UC Irvine’s graduate writing program, about inspiring young readers and spotting young writers. Today, we look at how one young girl was inspired to write a book.

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Naomi Shavin was 5 years old when she began writing her book. It was Christmastime and Naomi, whose family is Jewish, asked her father why Coca-Cola only put pictures of Santa Claus on its soda cans.

Why, Naomi wanted to know, not Hanukkah menorahs or dreidels?

Her father, Mark, a former Angeleno who now works for an Atlanta TV station, suggested that Naomi write to Coke and ask.

“By then, she had mastered the alphabet and could group words into sentences,” Shavin said. “It occurred to me that letters could be a fun way for her to practice writing and, at the same time, find out more about the world.”

So on a quiet December afternoon, Naomi put chubby pencil to paper and, with spelling help from her dad, wrote her first letter:

Dear Coca-Cola,

Why do you put Santa Claus on the Coca-Cola cans? Why don’t you put Jewish things on the cans? I am 5.

From Naomi Shavin

After her name, Naomi sketched a lopsided Jewish star and a menorah--just in case the folks at Coke didn’t know what one looked like.

And so Naomi’s literary career had begun. Although the answer she received weeks later on Coca-Cola letterhead was disappointing--”Santa has universal appeal . . . year after year!”--she was not discouraged.

The next week, Naomi sat down at her kitchen table and fired off four pages of questions to the queen of England--questions about dogs, children and just what it is that monarchs do.

I have a corgi too. . . . His name is Chauncey. He has stinky breath. . . . What are your corgis and children like? . . . How do you rule all those people? If I were Queen, my rule would be no being mean! P.S. I named my pet turtle after you because I like your name.

Naomi got a letter from the queen’s lady-in-waiting, who said her majesty had “commanded” a response that included a brief genealogy of Buckingham Palace’s royal dogs.

In all, Naomi wrote 53 letters. Her questions elicited answers from personalities such as Coretta Scott King [“I was so glad to learn that you are studying about the life and work of my husband, Martin Luther King. . . .”] and Al Gore [“I became involved in public service because I believe strongly that one person can make a positive difference. . . .”] to the secretary of the Treasury [“There is no definite reason green was chosen for our currency. . . .”] and the Tooth Fairy [“You can certainly keep your tooth for another day to show your friends. . . .”]

Early this year, her letters were collected in a softcover book--”Naomi Wants to Know--Letters From a Little Girl to the Big Big World” (Fairview Press, $12.95).

Although turning out a book was not the goal when Naomi wrote her first letters, it became the perfect way to demonstrate that writing can be fun at any age.

And for parents, says Naomi’s father, there’s a bonus.

“The benefits of letter writing with your child last a lifetime,” he said. “You can capture her voice, that innate curiosity and innocence of childhood, before it’s lost to the cacophony of adult thought.”

Few children have the patience or motor skills to write sentences, let alone books, before they finish first grade. But the Shavins say their experience with Naomi has convinced them that helping children write what they can at any age is as important as taking family pictures.

Shavin suggests that parents who want to help their children write letters begin by finding a quiet, comfortable place for them to sit. Naomi sometimes sat on a tree stump near the river in her Atlanta backyard when there was too much going on in the kitchen.

In addition, Shavin made a practice of not only helping Naomi spell but also supplying a typed cover letter clarifying her writing and explaining that the text and content were Naomi’s alone.

He also provided a return address and made copies of all of Naomi’s letters to put in her journal “for a lasting record of her state of mind at ages 5 and 6.”

Naomi’s book has taken her on publicity tours, including a visit to Los Angeles for an appearance on “The Roseanne Show.”

But, according to a series of letters Naomi exchanged with The Times, the best thing about writing the book was getting so many useful and interesting answers to her questions.

“If there’s an accident, how do you get the children out?” she asked her school bus company. (Don’t worry that there are no seat belts on the bus, she was told.)

“Do earthworms have eyes?” she asked a Purdue University agronomy professor. (No.)

“How come the Disney characters never need to go to the bathroom?” she asked Roy Disney. (They’ve already gone to the bathroom before the show starts.)

One evening, after an especially contentious weekend with her “annoying” little brother Adam, Naomi asked her father if there was someone who could stop the fighting.

He suggested something that other parents may appreciate: Write to a mediator at the National Labor Relations Board for help.

The query prompted a response from none other than the board’s chairman, William B. Gould IV himself, who suggested that Naomi set a good example for Adam and show him more kindness and love.

“But,” Gould cautioned, “don’t expect this to work every time.”

Naomi says her “most important” letter was to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“What’s jail like?” Naomi asked. And “Have you ever made a mistake?” (Many, but I learn from them.)

The most poignant letter in Naomi’s book was the one to her Grandpa Norman, who died three years before she was born.

“Someday I’ll see you,” she wrote. “We can get together. Even though I never knew you, I know you are inside me. . . . I hope the wind carries this to you.”

She also wrote a note in colored chalk on the sidewalk, believing, her father said, that Grandpa Norman could see it from heaven. “I wish you were here to see Mommy have the new baby,” she wrote.

Today, Naomi is 7 and a gifted second-grade student. But she’s not ready to publish another book.

Why not? The Times asked.

“I am a little patient, but most of the time I am not,” she wrote back. And in another letter, she was even more emphatic: “P.S. I’m retired.”

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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LIVING

Following your heart and finding your niche are struggles familiar to all young people. E8