Marvin Terban facts for kids
Marvin I. Terban is an American author who writes books for children. He was born on April 28, 1940. He has also been a teacher for many years. People call him a "master of children's wordplay" and "Mr. English for Kids." This is because he makes learning about the English language fun. He has written 40 books for young readers, mostly about English. He is also known as Scholastic's "Professor Grammar." Marvin Terban taught English, Latin, and other subjects at Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School in New York for 60 years.
Life and Career
Marvin Terban was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts. He started his writing journey very early. In first grade, he wrote and drew a book about a fuzzy green dragon. His teacher liked it so much that she displayed it at the local library. His parents even had to check it out to read it!
His first real writing job was a weekly column. He wrote it for his local newspaper, The Chelsea Record, when he was in high school. He also edited his high school newspaper and literary magazine. In high school, his classmates voted him "The Boy Most Likely to Succeed."
He went to Tufts and Columbia Universities. There, he earned his bachelor's and master's degrees. For sixty years, from 1963 to 2023, he taught many subjects. These included English, Latin, Public Speaking, Computer, Theater, and Filmmaking. He taught at the Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School. This school was founded in 1764 and is located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City.
Early in his teaching career, Mr. Terban worked with schools in the New York City area. These schools were starting to use computers and instructional television in their classes. He learned new skills and brought them back to his own classroom. He created teaching games that used humor. These games helped students understand and enjoy the tricky parts of the English language. These fun games later became the series of funny books he is famous for.
Mr. Terban's humorous books teach language arts skills and wordplay. Schools across the United States and in other countries use them. They are even used at Shanghai University in China to teach English to adults. His book, Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms, has been translated into Japanese, Korean, and Bulgarian. Two of his books were even turned into early computer games by Houghton Mifflin.
Marvin and his wife Karen, who used to be a special education teacher, also wrote two activity books for teachers. Three of his Scholastic books have sold over one million copies each. These popular books are Checking Your Grammar, Dictionary of Idioms, and Dictionary of Spelling.
In 2005, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators honored Marvin Terban. This is a large international group of people who create children's books. They named him their Member of the Year. This was for his many contributions to the society and to helping children learn to read.
People have praised Marvin Terban's books highly. ALA Booklist called him a "master of children's wordplay." The Children's Book-of-the-Month Club called him "Mr. English for Kids." He is also known as Scholastic's Professor Grammar. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature (2006) said his books are "surprisingly intriguing and humorous." They also noted his "catchy titles and humorous illustrations" that "captivate anyone who loves words." School Library Journal has described his books as "excellent," "clever," "enjoyable," and "just fun to read." ALA Booklist said he is a "writer who captivates young people." They added that he "excites children about language and challenges them to use it playfully and creatively."
Mr. Terban has acted in local community theater plays. He did this to help raise money for charities. He also had small roles in movies directed by Woody Allen. For many summers, he directed plays at Cejwin Camps. This was a summer camp in the Catskill Mountains, north of New York City. He has visited schools and colleges to meet authors and give presentations. He talks about English language arts skills and humor in children's books. He has traveled all over the United States, South America, Europe, Israel, China, and Japan for these visits.
Marvin and his wife live in New York City, right across from Central Park. They have two children and two grandchildren. Their grandchildren have two rescue dogs, two rescue cats, and two rescue pigs.
Books
- I Think I Thought: And Other Tricky Verbs (1984)
- Too Hot to Hoot: Funny Palindrome Riddles (1985)
- Your Foot's on My Feet: And Other Tricky Nouns (1986)
- Guppies in Tuxedos: Funny Eponyms (1988)
- Dove Dove: Funny Homograph Riddles (1988)
- Superdupers: Really Funny Real Words (1989)
- Punching the Clock: Funny Action Idioms (1990)
- Hey, Hay!: A Wagonful of Funny Homonym Riddles (1991)
- Funny You Should Ask: How to Make up Jokes and Riddles with Wordplay (1992)
- It Figures: Fun Figures of Speech (1993)
- Checking Your Grammar (1993)
- Time to Rhyme (1994)
- Scholastic Writer's Desk Reference (2001)
- Punctuation Power: Punctuation and How to Use It (2002)
- Kids' Guide to the English Language (2002)
- Building Your Vocabulary (2003)
- Verbs! Verbs! Verbs! (2003)
- Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms (2006)
- Scholastic Dictionary of Spelling (2006)
- Ready! Set! Research! Your Fast And Fun Guide To Writing Research Papers That Rock (2007)
- The Ultimate Spelling & Vocabulary Reference (2007)
- In a Pickle: And Other Funny Idioms (2007)
- Mad as a Wet Hen!: And Other Funny Idioms (2007)
- Eight Ate: A Feast of Homonym Riddles (2007)
- The Ultimate Homework Book (2008)
- Pocket Guide to Grammar (2010)
- "Marvin Terban's Guide to Grammar Parts of Speech" (2014)
- "Laugh It Up! The Funny Kids' Guide to Cracking Jokes" (2019)
