Articles
  
Featured Article
Daily Breeze, April 4, 2013
'Jester' book donation brings smiles to Harbor-UCLA patients

Generous Jefferson Middle School eighth graders Emily Lopez, back row, far left, and Emily Dueñas, back row, far right, give copies of the bilingual English and Spanish edition of David Saltzman’s “The Jester Has Lost His Jingle/El Bufón ha perdido su gracia” to patients at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance. The late author’s mother, Barbara Saltzman, center, who heads the nonprofit Jester & Pharley Phund, read the story in English and Spanish.
OC Register, February 22, 2013
George White students 'read to give'
George White Elementary students will be supporting children at the Children's Hospital of Orange County with book donations and Jester dolls. Barbara Saltzman kicked off the initiative on Feb. 28, reading "The Jester Lost His Jingle" to students.
The story extols the importance of finding happiness within oneself. The event began the school's reading program, where they can get sponsors for their nightly reading. Saltzman's son, David Saltzman, wrote the book before passing away from Hodgkin's disease.
Complete Article>>

Long Beach Post, September 24, 2012
Jester Finds His Jingle at Miller Children’s Hospital

Pediatric patients from Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach and their families gathered to enjoy a reading of  The Jester Has Lost His Jingle - a story about a court jester who loses his ability to laugh only to rediscover it through a hospitalized child. The book has been a favorite of Miller Children’s pediatric patients since its debut in 1995. Thursday’s reading marked the first public introduction of the book in Spanish,  El Bufón ha perdido su gracia.

The book was read by Barbara Saltzman, author David Saltzman’s mother and executive director of The Jester & Pharley Phund, with Natalia Aurrecoechea’s Spanish translation read by Araceli Anguli, Child Life Specialist at Miller Children’s. Using an animated voice and props, Barbara brightened the day of the patients in attendance by providing them with a distraction.
Complete Article>>

The Jester's Bilingual Debut in La Opinion, September 15, 2012
Bilingual book inspires smiles in young patients


Tomó más de 17 años para que el libro The Jester has Lost his Jingle se convirtiera al mismo tiempo, en el libro infantil El Bufón ha perdido su gracia. Ahora este especial libro bilingüe también podrá motivar las risas de niños con enfermedades crónicas como el cáncer, con su bello mensaje en español.

Barbara Saltzman (i), madre de David, lee el cuento a los pequeños pacientes de cáncer y sus familias. Tal y como sucedió ayer en el Miller Children's Hospital Long Beach donde se presentó por primera vez el aclamado libro en español, a través de una lectura bilingüe a más de una docena de pacientes infantiles, que logró poner muchas sonrisas en los rostros cansados de los pequeños.
Complete Article>>


It’s taken more than 17 years for “The Jester Has Lost His Jingle” to be transformed into the bilingual children’s book “ El Bufón ha perdido su gracia.” Now this special bilingual book will be able to inspire laughter in children with chronic illlnesses, such as cancer, with its beautiful message in Spanish. Candice Ivarra (d) tiene solo 16 meses y sufre de cáncer al estómago. Pero la pequeña disfrutó de la lectura de 'The Jester Has Lost His Jingle/ El Bufón ha perdido su gracia'.


That’s exactly what happened Thursday at Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach, where the acclaimed book was presented for the first time in Spanish, with a bilingual reading to more than a dozen young patients. The book reading put many smiles on the tired faces of these young children.
Complete Article>>

Long Beach Press Telegram
September 14, 2012
Barbara Saltzman's son wrote "The Jester Has Lost His Jingle," a book aimed at brightening the lives of children with cancer that made its debut at Miller Children's Hospital Long Beach 17 years ago. The book is available in a Spanish-English bilingual edition. Each patient at the reading and many more in the hospital were given copies of the book from LifeCare Solutions of Carson.
Complete Article>>

The Jester's Mom Featured in Entro Magazine, Winter 2010/2011
Young Author's Book a Powerful Legacy of Love and Laughter

"Please publish my book and see that it gets to children with cancer." That was the plea 22-year-old David Saltzman made to his family two decades ago as he lay dying of Hodgkin's disease. The book, The Jester Has Lost His Jingle, was David's senior project at Yale. It's about a court jester who wants to discover why the world has lost its sense of humor. Setting off with Pharley, his talking scepter, The Jester finds an unhappy little girl in a hospital room, and helps her realize that her sadness can be overcome by laughter--and then takes that realization back to his king

David's parents, Barbara and Joe, agreed to their son's request. Finding a publisher proved difficult; publishers either said 64 pages was too long for a children's book or that rhyming was no longer popular.
Complete Article>>

The Orange County Register
April 2012
Students Read to Earn Books for Others

As each of Dr. Jonas Salk Elementary's top-reading students turned over a poster, the cheers grew louder and louder.

Magnolia School District Assistant Superintendent Hanan Thornton, Principal Steve Pescetti and Vice Principal Katie Brown cheered the loudest as the 820 students – poster by poster – saw their outstanding achievement revealed.



Top grade-level readers at Dr. Jonas Salk Elementary hold up the astounding numbers of pages read by the student body - 571,932 pages. From left, Ivie Kean (6th); Tommy Nguyen (5th); Geddony Espinoza (4th); Johnny Nguyen (3rd); Jessica Mateo (2nd); Tristhan Lim (1st); Ricardo Tafoya (K).
Complete Article >>

Peninsula People
June 2011
Palos Verdes Estates Resident Wins National Honor -
Joe Saltzman Named Teacher of the Year

Joe Saltzman, a Palos Verdes Estates resident for 35 years, has been named the National Journalism & Mass Communication Teacher of the Year by the Scripps Howard Foundation.

A professor of journalism at the Annenberg School for Journalism & Communication at the Universtiy of Southern California, Saltzman will be awarded the Charles E. Scripps Award at the keynote session during the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) convention in St. Louis in on Aug. 10. He will also be recognized at the Scripps Howard Foundation's National Journalism Awards dinner May 3 in
Cincinnati.
Complete Article >>

Daily Breeze
November 4, 2010
Finalist. Woman of the Year.
Barbara Saltzman

Barbara Saltzman made her 22-year-old son David a promise.

She promised him she would publish the book he wrote and illustrated exactly as he envisioned, and that she would help get that book into the hands of every child who is diagnosed with cancer.

"The Jester Has Lost His Jingle" was published in 1995, five years after David died of Hodgkin's disease.
Complete Article>>
Archived Articles >>
Jester Home Page
The Jester & Pharley Phund™ P.O. Box 817 Palos Verdes, CA 90274
1-800-9-JESTER ● email: thejester13@cox.net
About Us | Tributes | Literacy Programs | Medical Programs | Partners | Media
Date Book: News & Events | How to Help | To Order | Contact Us
The Jester & Pharley Phund is a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation.
Proceeds benefit ill and special needs children and literacy. Federal EIN #95-4785834