Some

things just get better with time. After initial

recognition in 1979 by the Freedoms Foundation at

Valley Forge, Paul Oddo Sr.'s publication titled

"Uncle Sam and the Flag" received a

McGuffey award in July, exactly 20 years after

its debut.

The

children's text, which explains the words

contained in the United States Pledge of

Allegiance, came from Oddo Publishing of

Fayetteville.

The

small, established publishing house shares space

in one of two Quonset huts off Redwine Road with

the Oddos' accounting business and offices for

GTO's drive-in restaurant, also an Oddo

enterprise.

Receiving

a "McDuffie" is comparable to being

nominated to the textbook hall of fame. According

to Oddo, a publication must be in circulation for

16 years before it can be considered for

recognition by the William Holmes McGuffey Text

and Academic Authors Association Inc.

The

judges called "Uncle Sam and the Flag"

a wonderful child's book. "Its goal is to

help children memorize the Pledge and its

succeeds wonderfully," said the judges.

"Dr. Lee Mountain (author of the book) has

done a great service to her students as well as

her country by preparing this book. Bravo!"

Oddo

is thrilled with this latest award, and last week

presented a copy of "Uncle Sam and the

Flag" to the Fayette County Board of

Education, also giving them its publication

history.

He

is a living example of how age serves to make a

person even more vital. Sitting in one of several

offices tucked away in the light green structures

situated on Storybook Acres, Oddo was more than

delighted to share his stories about his life in

the publishing business with his wife, Genevieve,

and his three sons, Paul Jr., Chuck and Warren.

Oddo

grew up in the Ridgewood section of Queens, just

bordering on Brooklyn.

"We

hated each other and we loved each other, the two

boroughs," Oddo chuckled. His wife is a

fellow New Yorker who lived a few blocks from the

shores of Coney Island, "the mecca of

tourism," according to Oddo.

After

they married, Oddo worked as an educational

consultant for Grolier, known for its books of

knowledge. The couple lived for a while in

Westchester County, and then moved to Minnesota.

"We settled in Mankato, 84 miles southwest

of Minneapolis, a lovely little town... it's a

college town," he explained. After years of

covering a territory that stretched from the

Canadian border into Florida, Oddo and his wife

decided to break out on their own and open their

business. Oddo Publishing was born.

In

the meantime, Genevieve "kept the family

together," Oddo said.

"They

know nothing else, my boys, but work; they've

been working since they were 3 years of

age," he joked.

Oddo

handled the promotional end of the business,

while his wife and, eventually, Chuck took on the

editorial side. "Chuck and the missus, they

are the two responsible for dotting the i's and

crossing the t's, for using the proper language

and correcting the sentence structure," Oddo

said.

Eventually,

the Oddos moved to Fayetteville and set up shop

in their present location off Redwine Road in the

early `70s. A more temperate climate lured the

family south. Oddo recalled the town of

Fayetteville, having traveled through on his way

to Atlanta where he regularly met with the city's

board of education on behalf of Grolier.

"We

loved it. We published books here, a great number

of them," he said. Oddo added that he is

proud of the fact that "there must a million

Oddo Publishing books, published in Fayetteville,

Ga., all over the country, and that's not hard to

take."

"We

made Fayetteville the educational center of the

state," Oddo added.

There

is a modest inventory of Oddo Publishing titles

stored on the shelves of the company's

headquarters. The 20-book "Bobby Bear"

series contains another Freedoms Foundation

winner, entitled "Bobby Bear and Uncle Sam's

Riddle" along with a slew of texts on

everything from conservation to Christmas.

Currently,

"Uncle Sam and the American Flag" is

being printed in significant numbers for various

chapters of the Veterans of Foreign Wars around

the country. The vets distribute the books to

schools to teach young children about the Pledge

in a simple and entertaining way.

The

Oddos have taken a sabbatical from publishing new

titles and are now focusing on the retail end of

their business and promoting the books they

already have. Their books can be found on media

center shelves at elementary schools around the

county and have sold well at Kroger and Wal-Mart.

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