At a recent interview in Bridgehampton, children’s book author Tor Seidler sported a striped scarf around his neck, accenting his boyish charm. Fresh off the tennis court, he exuded easy athleticism and good humor. His 12th book, “Gully’s Travels,” featuring a Lhasa apso who lives in New York City, had just been published.
“My new book is a bit of a morality tale,” Mr. Seidler said.
Gulliver, the protagonist, is a snob who knows he is a special breed, revered in Tibet as a holy dog, the author explained. He is owned and pampered by a well-heeled Manhattanite with an apartment on Fifth Avenue near Washington Square. But when Gully is given to a doorman from a downscale neighborhood in Queens, his lifestyle changes quickly and he is forced to acclimate to a noisier, scruffier world. “Along the way,” the author said, “Gully learns crucial lessons about himself and life.”
In the course of the book, Gulliver travels from Queens to Paris via various modes of transportation, encounters a series of disasters, meets an array of human characters, and visits his love, Chloe, a Maltese. The fine impressionistic black and white illustrations by renowned artist Brock Cole enhance the texture, plot development, and liveliness of the story.
Thus far, “Gully’s Travels” has been well received, with Publisher’s Weekly’s starred review asserting that “Seidler ... transfers human foibles to his animal characters in well-modulated comic prose ... A spirited animal fantasy for the Chapter Book set.” A review published in The Sacramento Bee calls the book “a perfect read-aloud for all ages.”
Many of Mr. Seidler’s books feature animals, including “Mean Margaret,” a finalist for the National Book Award; “The Wainscott Weasels,” an ALA Notable Children’s Book; and “A Rat’s Tale,” a Publisher’s Weekly Best Book of the Year, which was translated into 12 languages and made into a movie in 1997.
As a young child, Mr. Seidler was a voracious reader, devouring scores of books, especially ones about animals. Among his favorites were E.B. White’s “Stuart Little” and the “Mother West Wind” stories by Thorton Burgess. His keen pleasure in reading these anthropomorphic tales influenced his writing years later.
At age 10, the author experienced an epiphany from a different source. Home alone, and rummaging through his parents’ library, he found a novel that blew him away: “The Bridge of San Luis Rey” by Thorton Wilder. He read the book in one sitting, secretly vowing to become a writer. He kept this secret for many years, purposefully eschewing writing courses and avoiding the whole issue of his future until he landed as an undergraduate at Stanford University. There, under the aegis of the great Wallace Stegner, he read, wrote, and began to find his voice.
In 1980, to much acclaim, Mr. Seidler published his first novel, “Dulcimer Boy.” It was reviewed favorably in “The New York Times” and The New Yorker, subsequently published in England, and translated into French and Dutch versions.
The author finds the East End’s atmosphere conducive to writing. Many of his books were composed at the early American wooden dining room table in his family’s house in Bridgehampton. Cranberry glass, Currier and Ives prints, and a Seth Thomas clock on the fireplace mantle create a timeless and cozy atmosphere in this multipurpose room. In the warm months, Mr. Seidler keeps the door to the side porch open and observes chipmunks darting in and out and listens to the local catbird calling.
From January through May, he teaches writing at a Master of Fine Arts graduate program at the New School in Manhattan, a limited teaching schedule that affords him plenty of free time to leave the city behind.
To get to Bridgehampton, he takes the LIRR to and from Hunter’s Point, which is easy to access from his apartment in Chelsea. He likes the sound and rhythm of the train, and said that he gets “tons of work done on my laptop. There’s no phone and no internet to bother me. It’s wonderful.”
“I have lived all over—Vermont, New Hampshire, Seattle, California—but Bridgehampton is the one constant place in my life. As little kids, my brother and I were sent here to stay with my grandmother in the summers and I’ve been coming ever since.”
In spite of the dramatic changes to the area since his childhood, Mr. Seidler still finds much to admire. “Bridgehampton is my escape valve from the city,” he said. “I truly love the ocean: the rougher the better. I like to ride to the beach on my bike, play golf and tennis. I know a ton of people—artists, writers, friends from my childhood. The light is amazing. The corn is still good. That whiff of salt air when you reach the South Fork. The scrub pine trees, the sand along the side of the road.”
Though the majority of his publications have been reviewed as children’s books appropriate for the middle school years, Mr. Seidler does not target a specific age group when he composes. “I don’t tailor my books for any particular audience,” he said. “In fact, I never think of the reader at all. I write stories to please myself, basically. If people enjoy them, be they children or parents, I am delighted.”
Along with promoting “Gully’s Travels,” Mr. Seidler is busy writing a series of books related to ancient Greece, a historic time period which has long interested him. “I usually have a new project coming along as soon as I finish work on a current novel,” he said. “That avoids the kind of post partum letdown when you finish a book. Also it helps to alleviate any anxiety about the reception and sales of the new book.”
As the late afternoon shadows began to close in on a bright, crisp, fall day, the author shook hands and bade a smiling adieu, eager to get back to the dining room table and immerse himself in ancient Greece.
on Dec 4, 2008