Leonard C. Duncan was a teacher for grades 2,3,5,6,7 and 8 in Los Angeles for 37 years and the owner of two bookstores along with his wife Patty who studied art. They grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma until moving to California where Duncan was trained as a United States Marine. Later, Duncan received his MA in Education from Pepperdine University. As an educator, Duncan taught students and his five daughters to read. He did this by adding the technique of phonics (blending and phonograms) to the sight reading (whole word) method being used at the time. Then, he put an emphasis on spelling, grammar, one and two-syllable words, vocabulary building and homophones and homographs. Over the years he has received praise from students and parents for his dedication to teaching. Today, Duncan enjoys his days working on his books and spending time with his family, friends and dog.