Reed School Readers Rewarded With Nutmeg Author Appearance

By Nancy K. Crevier

While their Reed Intermediate School classmates poured into the cafeteria for the usual treats doled out by the lunchroom staff on Thursday, March 23, dozens of other RIS students gathered in the school library for a double treat. In honor of the reading success of 200 fifth and sixth grade students who reached the goal of reading from five to eight Nutmeg Award-winning books, librarian Ginny Snowden dished up a special luncheon and a special presentation by children’s book illustrator and author Marc Simont, as well.

Mr Simont, a West Cornwall resident, has been fleshing out book characters and dreaming up storylines for 70 of his 90 years. Many readers know him as the creator of the Nate the Great character, a popular series of early reading chapter books written by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat. He has also illustrated The Happy Day by Ruth Kraus and recently wrote and illustrated The Stray Dog, both winners of Caldecott Honors. A Tree Is Nice, written by Janice Mae Udry and illustrated by Mr Simont, received the Caldecott Award in 1957. The Caldecott is a prestigious award given each year by the Association for Library Service to Children to the illustrator of the most distinguished American picture book for children.

“He’s a treasure,” said librarian Ginny Snowden of Mr Simont’s visit. “He’s fun. I’ve seen him before and he draws kids into his drawing and writing. It’s magic.” The humor and irony in Mr Simont’s books made him ideal for an author study, said Ms Snowden. “The fifth and sixth graders are just learning about [humor and irony] so his books are perfect.”

At the first of two talks by Mr Simont on Thursday, Ms Snowden presented him with a special gift created by students at RIS. Some Ideas for a Sequel for Marc Simont From the Kids at RIS is a collection of ideas and drawings depicting sequels to Mr Simont’s The Contest At Paca, which the children read. The Contest At Paca tells the story of a contest between children and soldiers in a little Spanish town; ideas offered up in the RIS book included competitions between drawers and writers, lunch ladies and kids, boys and girls, and firemen and policemen.

“I’m going to have fun looking at these,” said Mr Simont, as he flipped the pages of the thick binder.

The children watched attentively as Mr Simont demonstrated the ease in which a simple, straight line can become anything, from the horizon to a clothesline to a hippo underwater.

When asked how long he planned to write, Mr Simont laughed and answered, “Well, I don’t have much time, being 90 years old, but I will try to write some more. I do have another new book coming out about the secret lives of James Thurber and Walter Middy that I illustrated.”

In response to another question, Mr Simont explained that “some of my stories are very much from life experiences, such as The Wonderful Summer, about my wife and I growing a vegetable garden.” The vegetable garden, he went on to say, ended up being grown for the rabbits in the neighborhood.

Two of the lucky students attending Mr Simont’s presentation said that The Contest At Paca was one of their favorite books by the author/illustrator. “It was pretty funny,” said Chris Erikson. “His illustrations are sort of like a cartoon and sort of realistic.”

“The Contest At Paca was creative because of all the contests [the characters] had,” added Courtney Escoda.

Fifth grade student Danielle Chelaux received recognition for being the only student at RIS to have read all 20 of the Nutmeg Award books. Danielle will have the honor of being the first student at RIS to check out the brand new Newbery Award book, Criss-Cross, by Lynne Rae Perkins.

 “Getting kids to read is a big part of my job and having a promotion [like Mr Simont’s visit] is wonderful,” said Ms Snowden. “I do think we have the ‘readingest’ kids in Connecticut.”