Amy Pollack, Author, Teacher-Episode #396

Amy Meislin Pollack was a teacher for over four decades. From her own childhood, to the classroom, to being a parent of three and grandparent to seven, she’s perfectly positioned to write her coming-of-age book series based on a mischievous young girl, Jillian Kramer, who everyone calls Jelly Bean. After 60 years of occasionally working on her Jelly Bean books, Amy took advantage of the Covid pandemic to finish them.The series began with The Adventures of Jelly Bean, which first came to Amy when her fourth-grade teacher asked her to get up in front of the class and tell stories about Jelly Bean, which she would make up as she went along. Several years later she began writing down the Jelly Bean stories, and would work on them periodically in any free time she had during her teaching career and while raising her three children.The second in the series, The Further Adventures of Jelly Bean, was followed up by The Still Further Adventures of Jelly Bean, which I’ve read. It’s a charming take on the emotional challenges confronting Jelly Bean as she tries to navigate through the relentless turmoil of growing up.  She tries to work out relationships with her friends, her parents, her older brothers, and her uncle among others. Jelly Bean’s parents don’t want her best friend, who is of mixed race, to visit. Another friend is anorexic. One brother drops out of school. A grandparent dies. In other words, it’s about the struggles many young girls face as they grow up.Amy earned advanced degrees from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education and NYU. For six years Amy was a professor of writing, and a teacher in the tutoring center at Montclair State University.