My mother’s name was Mary
Jacobson.
I don’t remember my mother’s
immediate response to this discov-
ery, but I’d guess it was muted and
brought a deeper blush to her natu-
rally rosy cheeks. My mom, who died
in 2011, was kind, quietly intelligent,
and a dear friend to more people
than I’ve ever counted as compan-
ions. She was also extremely humble.
Within days, my dad had checked
out all the Tamora Pierce books at the
local library, and in one we found an-
other Easter egg: Daja’s Book, a 1998
novel, was dedicated to “the teach-
ers who shaped my life.” Pierce listed
four names, and one was Mary Jacob-
sen. (This misspelling of our family
name was no surprise. It happened
all the time.)
The dedication concluded, “A great
teacher is above all other treasures.”
I cherish this story not only because
it’s a wonderful demonstration of the
impact teachers can have without
knowing it but also because it made
me see my mom differently. She was
just 24 when she taught Pierce—and
she introduced her to Tolkien?
I was a voracious reader as a child,
and I attribute that to the hours my
mom and I spent reading on my
bed together—first Beatrix Potter’s
Appley Dapply’s Nursery Rhymes, later
Jean Craighead George’s Julie of the
Wolves. But I don’t remember her ever
mentioning Tolkien. Maybe my mom
was simply astute enough to recognize
that fantasy wasn’t my bag. And maybe
she was perceptive enough to know
Tolkien was what Pierce needed.
In a recent e-mail, Pierce remem-
bered clearly that my mom gave her
the first book of the trilogy on a Fri-
day and the second two on the fol-
lowing Monday. “She changed my
life,” Pierce wrote. Tolkien inspired
her to write not only what she called
“high fantasy,” she said, but also to
write female-centric books with kid
heroes.Pierce shared other specific mem-
ories. When she wrote a too-long
short story about Blackbeard, my
mom suggested that she pick shorter
subjects for assignments but to press
on with bigger projects in her spare
time. My mom also told her to keep
everything she wrote, advice that
Pierce, now the author of 31 books
and numerous short stories and es-
says, said she still heeds.
My mom e-mailed Pierce after
we found her website in 2003. They
each said they often had thought of
the other.
“I was so grateful to be able to tell
her at last what she had done for me,
because I think my life would have“My life would have been
very different without
her,” Pierce wrote. “She
gave me belief in myself.”rd.com 69Inspiration