Book Talk: Rural educator tells ‘Tales Out of School’
Marc Robertson was going to Australia, not to Walnut Creek. The 22-year-old, newly graduated from Kent State University in the turbulent Class of 1970, was excited about a pending job offer to teach in New South Wales the following spring. In late summer, though, he got a call about a substitute job in Holmes County.
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Marc Robertson is the alter ego of Marc Crail, author of the warm and winning “Tales Out of School,” first of three autobiographical novels about a rural educator. Marc’s temporary job offer is the result of a car accident that will keep the regular sixth-grade teacher out until at least Christmas. Having no other prospects until his Australia trip, Marc accepts.
He thinks he’s off to a good start when he goes to prepare his classroom for the opening of school when he realizes he’s forgotten the key the principal gave him. No problem; there’s a window that’s partly open, and he can squeeze through. Or not. The comic episode involves a blustering police officer who shows up later in the book in an even funnier situation.
Marc’s innovative teaching methods engage the students and impress the parents and principal, with some definite hits and misses. He becomes a part of the small community, learning about his Mennonite and Amish neighbors. There’s a heart-rending tragedy and several alarming scenes of the power of nature.
“Tales Out of School” (229 pages, softcover) costs $14.95 from online retailers. Marc Crail also is the author of “More Tales Out of School” and “Super Tales Out of School” and says he is working on “Tales After School.” He attended the University of Akron, served as a principal and superintendent in Stark and Cuyahoga counties, and lives in Mount Dora, Florida.
‘Cleveland and the Civil War’
Much of Ohio’s social and political role in the days before the Civil War is well known, with former Akron and Hudson resident John Brown’s abolitionist activities, the significant 1858 Oberlin-Wellington Rescue of an escaped enslaved man and, down state, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” written in Cincinnati. “Cleveland and the Civil War” by W. Dennis Keating focuses on one city’s part.
Camp Cleveland opened in July 1862 in what is now Tremont and would house and train 15,230 men by war’s end. It also had a hospital that treated more than 3,000 sick and wounded soldiers. Charitable societies were organized to collect supplies and food, and later to build a Soldiers’ Home.
Of the individual military units, the Cleveland Grays already had been in existence for decades, having their own downtown armory. Keating gives accounts of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry units, including the 23rd, which produced William McKinley and Rutherford B. Hayes, and their actions during the war.
Keating reports on the funeral train of Abraham Lincoln as it stopped in Cleveland, where the president’s coffin was taken to Public Square for a daylong viewing. Also listed are various relevant locations, like the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument.
“Cleveland and the Civil War” (144 pages, softcover) costs $21.99 from Arcadia Publishing. W. Dennis Keating taught in the Levin College of Urban Affairs and the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University. He also is the author of “A Brief History of Tremont: Cleveland’s Neighborhood on a Hill.”
Events
Loganberry Books (13015 Larchmere Blvd., Shaker Heights): Rex Kruger, owner of custom furniture company Rex Kruger Fabrication, signs “Everyday Woodworking: A Beginner’s Guide to Woodcraft with 12 Hand Tools,” 1 p.m. Sunday.
Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Libraries: In observance of Deaf History Month, authors Katie Booth (“The Invention of Miracles: Language, Power and Alexander Graham Bell’s Quest to End Deafness”) and Brenda Jo Brueggemann (“Women and Deafness” and the upcoming “Posting Mabel: an epistolary biography of Mabel Hubbard Bell”) read from and discuss their work in a Zoom event at 7 p.m. Monday, with sign language interpretation and a question-and-answer session. Register at heightslibrary.org.
Cuyahoga County Public Library (Parma Heights branch, 6206 Pearl Road): Laura Peskin presents history from her three-volume “Deep Cover Cuyahoga County” series, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Monday. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.
Maltz Performing Arts Center (1855 Ansel Road, Cleveland): The William N. Skirball Writers Center Stage series continues with Carmen Maria Machado (“Her Body and Other Parties”) and Rumaan Alam (“Leave the World Behind,” a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award), 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. In-person tickets are $30; virtual tickets are $15. Go to cuyahogalibrary.org.
Cuyahoga County Public Library: William Maz talks about his debut historical thriller “The Bucharest Dossier,” set in 1989 Romania, in a Zoom event from 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday (originally scheduled for Tuesday). From 2 to 3 p.m. Thursday, South African author Damon Galgut, talks about the family drama “The Promise,” which won the 2021 Booker Prize. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.
Morley Library (184 Phelps St., Painesville): Historian Frank Monastra discusses “Tommy’s Place: Welcome to the Famous Mounds Club,” about 1920s Cleveland boxer and bootlegger Tommy McGinty, whose Willoughby gambling club was the site of a notorious robbery in 1947, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Register at morleylibrary.org.
Mandel Jewish Community Center: The Cleveland Jewish Book Festival continues with Dan Epstein, author (with Ron Blomberg) of “The Captain & Me: On and Off the Field with Thurman Munson,” about Blomberg’s friendship with Akron native Munson, a catcher for the Yankees, in a virtual event from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. Register at mandeljcc.org/bookfest.
Hudson Library & Historical Society: Fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg discusses her book “Own It: The Secret to Life” with Louise Valentine, director of fashion and merchandising at the Kent State University at the Kent State University School of Fashion, in a Zoom event at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Register at hudsonlibrary.org.
Mimi Ohio Theatre (1511 Euclid Ave., Cleveland): The Playhouse Square author series continues Wednesday at 8 p.m. at the Mimi Ohio Theatre (relocated from the State Theatre) with Anne Lamott, who will talk about her work including “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life” and the new “Dusk, Night, Dawn: On Revival and Courage.” Tickets start at $39. At 8 p.m. Friday, Alton Brown (“I’m Just Here for the Food”) presents “Beyond the Eats”; tickets start at $10. Go to playhousesquare.org.
Wadsworth Public Library (132 Broad St.): Marty Gitlin, author of “The Ultimate Cleveland Indians Time Machine Book” and other sports and pop culture books, presents “A Cleveland Baseball Celebration” from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday.
Kent State University Student Center (1075 Risman Drive): As part of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s Centennial Speaker Series, United States Poet Laureate Joy Harjo reads from “An American Sunrise,” 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday; from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, Harjo will answer questions and discuss how she works. Admission is $25; register at cmnh.org.
Music Box Supper Club (1148 Main Avenue, Cleveland): The Cleveland Stories Dinner Parties series continues with Rick Porrello, author of “To Kill the Irishman: The War that Crippled the Mafia,” 7 p.m. Thursday. Dinner is $20; the lecture is free. Go to musicboxcle.com.
Cleveland Public Library: Misty Copeland, the first Black principal dancer of the American Ballet Theatre and author of “Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina” and “Black Ballerinas: My Journey to Our Legacy,” appears in a Zoom event at 12 p.m. Saturday. Register at cpl.org.
Akron-Summit County Public Library (Maple Valley branch, 1187 Copley Road): Marty Gitlin offers “The Ultimate Cleveland Baseball Presentation,” 2 to 3 p.m. Saturday. Register at akronlibrary.org.
Email information about books of local interest, and event notices at least two weeks in advance to BeaconBookTalk@gmail.com and bjnews@thebeaconjournal.com. Barbara McIntyre tweets at @BarbaraMcI.
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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Marc Crail tells ‘Tales Out of School’
