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Hank Mendheim
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 RIF alum years: Late '70s
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How long were you in the RIF program? I started in third grade and we had it for a couple of years, maybe through fifth or sixth grade.
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As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? As a kid, I always knew I wanted to work in television. I remember watching "Captain Kangaroo" and "Sesame Street" and being mesmerized by it.
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Now that you are grown up, what do you do? I always thought I wanted to be on TV. When I got to college, I realized I didn't. What I really wanted to do was create TV and that's what I do now. I'm a TV producer for NBC's production unit so I get to work on a variety of projects.
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Favorite childhood book: Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl. An elementary school teacher read this to us in class once and I just loved the story. Mr. Fox has to be pretty clever to outwit the likes of Boggis, Bunce and Bean, three disgusting farmers.
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What children’s book character are you most like? Hmmmm? I'm probably most like Charlie Bucket from Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Charlie grows up in a poor family where everything is a struggle, but he dreams BIG! That's me. I grew up in a poor family in Louisiana, but I always had big dreams. And now look at me! I'm at NBC. That's pretty big!
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Favorite RIF memory: My favorite RIF memory is my first RIF memory. I was in third grade and my class went down to the school cafeteria. There were tons and tons of books on all the tables. So imagine our excitement when one of the ladies told us that we could each pick out one book and it was ours to keep. There were so many to choose from, but my teacher, Sister Joan, helped me pick out my book — It Could Always Be Worse: A Yiddish Folk Tale illustrated by Margot Zemach.
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Do you still have any of your RIF books? Of course, It Could Always Be Worse sits on my bookshelf with all my other books and is just as important, maybe more important, than the rest. I always find myself telling people, "It could always be worse."
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What do you read now? I have many favorite authors. JK Rowling's Harry Potter series is a must for any reader, young or old. I also enjoy Dan Brown (The DaVinci Code, Angels & Demons, Deception Point); Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, Lost World, Disclosure). Patricia Cornwell writes amazing thriller mysteries. I also read a lot of non-fiction books for work.
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