Though the

world of children's books is still on its ear because of a boy wizard

and the rags-to-riches story of the author of said books, citizens of

Fayette County have their own author of books for children and young adults

living among them.

Robert Burch

is a native Fayette Countian who has written 19 books that have been popular

with readers of all ages as well as critics. He is also the namesake for

Robert Burch Elementary School in Tyrone.

Fayetteville

was a different place as he was growing up, more rural. It wasn't until

his early high school years that Fayetteville got its first paved road,

Ga. Highway 54 from Jonesboro to the Fayetteville city limits. In 1942,

Burch graduated from Fayette County High School, which only went up to

the 11th grade.

"There

were 48 or 50 people in my class," said Burch, who explained that

he was an average student. When asked what his favorite class was during

high school, Burch responded by saying, "My least favorite was math.

In fact, I almost quit school in the fourth grade over long division."

Burch was born

in Inman but soon moved to Fayetteville with his rather large family.

He is one of eight children and is the second youngest of all of the Burch

children. Though they did not have many material possessions, the Burch

family had a lot of fun, spending time with each other and taking care

of their farm animals which were treated as pets by the children.

After high

school, Burch went to Dahlonega for a year of college but within a year

he was in the Army and in the service until after World War II. His duties

in the war involved radio and cable and took him to the South Pacific

and eventually Brisbane, Australia.

"Sometimes

I would feel guilty for enjoying Australia," said Burch. "The

war ended before I was to be sent to Manila."

Burch returned

to the states and entered the University of Georgia on the GI Bill. He

majored in agriculture and horticulture and learned soon that he would

have to change his major to be happy as well as to make money. He worked

in some greenhouses in Rome, Ga., but eventually quit to take a desk job,

though Burch still describes himself as a "frustrated horticulturist."

Burch left

his desk job for two years of work in Japan and after his contract ended

in Japan, he took a freighter to Europe, where he spent the summer with

his sister and her family. After Germany, he was ready to head home but

decided to stop off in New York City.

"I wanted

to stop in New York to see the sights," said Burch. "This took

me eight years."

Though Burch

returned to Georgia for periods of time during the summer and Christmas,

Burch called New York City home for quite a while. He got an office job

and started taking adult education courses in creative writing at City

College.

"I drifted

to a children's writing course and I enjoyed it very much," said

Burch, who credits his professor and the professors wife for encouraging

him and the other students in the class. "It was they who encouraged

me to write about growing up in the rural south during the Depression."

That would

come later, though. Burch's first book was "The Traveling Bird,"

which was published in 1959. The company that published it folded within

a year, but that one published book paved the way for Burch to go to Viking

Press and to continue writing books.

His next book

was called "A Funny Place to Live," and it enjoyed more success

than "The Traveling Bird," because it was a selection for the

Junior Literary Guild. It was then that Burch quit his day job to pursue

writing as a full time career. He eventually had to go