Learning All About This Old House

Sandy Hook School’s second grade students recently hosted author and illustrator Jennifer Thermes, whose 2001 book, When I Was Built, was inspired by her own experiences living in a 1720 Colonial home.

According to her website, Ms Thermes says her parents contend that she was “inseparable from a small jar of red paint” since age 3. She spent years working in the profitable but also, for her, personally unsatisfying world of magazine publishing. Every time she hired another illustrator, she says, she wishes that illustrator could be her.

Now, with the publishing of When I Was Built, she is.

Today Ms Thermes combines her love of writing and illustrating with visits to area schools. Sandy Hook School students learned about the creative process that leads to a finished product. Ms Thermes colored her presentation with visual aids, including early art sketches that trace her professional development.

For more information about Ms Thermes, visit www.jenniferthermes.com.