Tim Podell's Successful Journey From Catastrophe to Creativity

( Scarborough , NY January 26, 2007 ) In the blink of an eye a stroke immobilized Tim Podell’s body and destroyed the world he knew.  He was only 24 years old.

Somehow, he managed to leave his house in Ossining , NY , drag himself to his car and drive one village over to his family’s home in Briarcliff Manor. When he arrived, his parents took one look at him and dialed 911.  Podell was rushed to the nearest emergency room by ambulance.

With the right side of his body completely paralyzed, he spent the next seven months in the hospital. All the physicians on his team were perplexed, unable to determine what had caused a stroke in one so young. He could not speak. In fact, at first he was not expected to live.

The next two years were spent in hospitals in various therapies relearning life’s basic functions. His parents began looking for an extended-care facility, believing their son would never be able to take care of himself again.

“Today, look at me,” he says smiling, sitting in the Ossining office of Tim Podell Productions. “You wouldn’t know anything was wrong." Although he still has residual paralysis in his right arm, hand and leg. He used to be a “righty” but relearned everything as a left handed person.

Although the stroke sidetracked his career, it was only temporary. Today, Tim Podell Productions is the nation’s leading source of video profiles of children’s book authors and the producer of a brand new series of programs called All About the Book” These are talk show format programs discussing the thoughts, feelings and emotions that were evoked by students when reading modern classic children’s books.

His award winning series, Good Conversation!, features at-home interviews of top-selling children’s book authors, most of whom are recipients of the prestigious Newbery Award, the Oscar of children’s literature.

Among authors whose programs Podell has produced are Avi, writer of the Newbery Award winning Crispin: The Cross of Lead; Lynn Reid Banks, author of The Indian in the Cupboard; Betsy Byars, author of Newbery-winner Summer of the Swans; Louis Sachar, 1999 winner of the Newbery Award for his book Holes.

“We go into the authors’ kitchens and dens and talk about their lives,” says Podell. “It puts a face on the author and hopefully gives the children the impetus to read the author’s work and perhaps to become writers themselves.”

Although the Good Conversation!  and the All About the Book! series are designed for children in grades 3-8, the programs appeal to a broad range of interests and ages. Podell’s programs are typically purchased by schools and libraries but are also bought by parents.

“Children’s books are among the best written literature in the world,” says Podell. “Adults accept a lot of schlock that kids won’t."

Visit his websites where one can browse the author pages, find out more information about the two series and check out clips from all the programs. The web addresses are www.goodconversations.com and www.allaboutthebook.com. Or one can visit www.timpodellproductions.com  – a conduit to all of Tim Podell’s websites.            ###