Date: Fri 10-Apr-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: MICHEL

Quick Words:

schools-Rossiter-author

Full Text:

Children's Author Tells Students That Persistence Pays

(with cuts)

BY MICHELE HOGAN

Nan Parson Rossiter knew she wanted to be an artist from age three. But what

she didn't know was what she would have to go through to get her work

published.

Now, author of one book, and soon to be author of another, she has come back

to encourage budding artists and writers in Margitta Savo's seventh grade

class and Cathy Cincogrono's sixth grade class to "stick with it and believe

in it" when they have a creative idea.

Even as a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and a published

illustrator for magazines, time and time again publishers rejected Mrs

Rossiter's book.

A student asked, "Did you get mad?"

Mrs Rossiter replied, "Yeah, I did. I believed in it, and I couldn't

understand why other people didn't. I always phoned up the publishers and

asked why my work was rejected, and sometimes it seemed that they hadn't even

read it."

But Mrs Rossiter kept painting, and honing her writing, until finally Dutton

Children's Books in New York picked up Rugby and Rosie .

It is a heartwarming story of a chocolate Lab and his boy as they become

increasingly attached to a yellow lab puppy (who is in training to become a

guide dog). They both know that the puppy, at a year old, is ready for

specialized training, but that doesn't make it any easier to say goodbye.

However, by meeting Rosie's new owner, the boy recognizes the importance of

Rosie's work and understands.

Beautifully illustrated with Mrs Rossiter's oil paintings on each page, the

book captures the moods and antics of Labrador retrievers as well as the

warmth of their relationships with their owners.

Rugby and Rosie was published a year ago, and has already sold 10,000 copies.

It is now in its second printing.

Mrs Rossiter has started working on her second book, South , a book about the

devotion of a Canada goose who stays caring for its life-long mate who has

been entangled in fishing line. Other ideas she has been percolating are a

book on boys making maple syrup, and children with a sand castle.

One student, admiring one of her paintings, asked about her art studio. Mrs

Rossiter smiled and said she wishes she had a studio, but for now, with two

young boys at home, "I work in a corner of our living room, surrounded by

Tonka trucks and Legos."