USC Annenberg’s Jester Holiday Jingles Project began today in the Forum of Wallis Annenberg Hall, selling copies of the children’s book “The Jester Has Lost His Jingle,” by David Saltzman.
For each copy of the book purchased today or tomorrow, the Jester & Pharley Phund will donate another to the Orthopaedic Institute for Children.
Brittany Hart Scholten, the civic engagement coordinator at Annenberg, explained that the school partners with a nonprofit organization every holiday season to benefit the local community. This year, they chose The Jester & Pharley Phund, started by Barbara and Joe Saltzman, in remembrance of their late son David.
The mission of The Jester & Pharley Phund is to “empower economically disadvantaged and ill children facing serious challenges by sharing the universal messages of perseverance, resilience, hope and joy.”
“Joe and Barbara Saltzman are fixtures of the Annenberg community. Joe has been a professor here for 56 years,” Hart Scholten said. “Joe and Barbara have gone around California and brought so many good programs, like literacy programs for example, donating books to schools in low-income areas and also to hospitals.”
The Saltzmans’ son David passed away from cancer, and he wrote and illustrated the book “The Jester Has Lost His Jingle” before he died. The book focuses on the story of a jester who can’t make his kingdom laugh and sets off on a quest to find joy.
During their journey, the jester and his sidekick, Pharley, learn that laughter “can provide the best tonic for anyone facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles.”
The book has sold hundreds of thousands of copies since its publication 28 years ago and is a New York Times Bestseller, but the numbers and accolades don’t compare to the human connection to Barabara Saltzman. She and Joe promised David to give a copy of the book to every kid in the country with cancer — at the time around 10,000 children — and they did that, she said. Now, they are hoping to donate one to any kid who is struggling.
“So many are facing serious challenges these days that it really makes us feel proud and happy to be able to help these kids with the vision that David has in the book,” she said. “It’s a vision of optimism and joy and happiness.”
Saltzman said that she receives many letters from adults who grew up with the book and have returned to it when in need of a pick-me-up.
“‘The Jester’ is so impactful to a young audience because no matter the age of the children or what is going on in their lives, they all have complicated days, sad days, maybe a day when someone teases them,” said Saltzman, “So, while on the surface it’s a children’s book, it really is for every single age — people of every experience just fall in love with it.”
Hart Scholten said that her two young sons love reading “The Jester Has Lost His Jingle” and playing with their jester dolls.
“They’ve even drawn stuff from the book,” Hart Scholten said, “and there’s a quote in there that really resonated with my seven-year-old boy: ‘So when you’re feeling lonely or sad or bad or blue, remember where laughter’s hiding… It’s hiding inside of you!’ I just felt like this was a great thing to bring to the Annenberg community.”