The True Story of Kathryn Lasky

I was born on the prairie—but not in a little house. It was a big house where I grew up, with a three car garage, a sprinkling system and a driveway great for roller skating. It was actually the suburbs of Indianapolis, Indiana. But Indiana is a prairie state and it is very flat. So it still counts. Besides it sounds better to say I was born on the prairie than I was born in the suburbs. Although hills are rare on the prairie, we had one. It was great for sledding. At the bottom there was a pond. In the summer I played pirates with my sister Martha and best friend Carole.

My sister Martha is five years older. I worshipped her. She was very smart and musically gifted. She spoke French so well she went to a French camp in the summer time. She also spoke Pig Latin and could do twelvesies in jacks. I could do none of these things. She still does them all except for jacks and Pig Latin.

Sometimes Martha and I look at each other and we can't believe that we both have gray hair and wrinkles and that she is a grandma because we still feel like giggly sisters. And then we start giggling like crazy and talk about the same old things we have talked about all of our lives.

This is me and my mom. My mom was extraordinarily beautiful and very brainy. Some people thought she looked like Greta Garbo, an old movie star. Mom was the one who told me to be a writer. She said “Kathy, you love words. And you have such a great imagination. You should be a writer.” My mom always thought I was the best, even when teachers didn't. She thought I was smart when teachers didn't. She would say in parent teacher conferences, when they told her I wasn't listening or paying attention, “Kathy is thinking of other things. She is very creative. Let her be.”

My dad was extraordinary too. He lived to be ninety-one years old. He never graduated from high school but somehow got into law school. He never practiced law but then started his own business and was hugely successful. He is the original self made man. He was a super athlete. He was born in Minnesota. His parents had fled Russia at the time of the Tsar and he was the first baby born to his parents in this country. He was, I think, the first Jewish baby born in Duluth, Minnesota. He said a lot of the neighbors came in to see him because they had never seen a Jewish baby. They thought maybe he had a tail or something.

About being Jewish. I am. When I was growing up there were not that many Jews out there on the prairie and there were definitely no bagels. Bagels came late to Indiana. But there was a synagogue and Sunday school. I hated Sunday school. I dropped out. It was not about God. I had a problem with the rabbi and I guess he had one with me. He thought I was a discipline problem. I was embarrassed to tell my mom and dad, so instead I told them I was an atheist. It sounded better than being a discipline problem. I waited until dinner to announce this. I was very excited. “I am not going to Sunday school anymore. I am an atheist!” Everyone kept on eating and then Mom looked up and said “and you think God cares!” Then everyone broke up laughing, even me. My mom had a very weird sense of humor. Some people didn't get it, but we all got it. I guess that was why we were really a family.