PA ONE author and illustrator visits Damascus School

By TOM KANE

DAMASCUS, PA - Suzanne Bloom is not only a children’s book author, but a book illustrator as well.

In other words, she both writes stories and draws pictures for the stories aimed at the younger side of the children’s reading population?toddlers, pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and first grade. And she won the 2007 coveted appointment of a PA ONE author/illustrator. Lindsey Barrett George of White Mills, PA was named in 2006.

“It is the creation of the Pennsylvania Department of Education and Libraries to single out a children’s book of quality, send multiple paperback copies to all elementary schools and then send out the author to talk to the children to encourage reading and art,” Bloom said.

Bloom, who lives near Binghamton, NY, visited with the first, third and fifth grades at the Damascus Elementary School last Friday. In each class, Bloom began by showing the rather primitive illustrations she did as an elementary pupil, followed by more developed drawings she did as she got older.

“By showing some very early work and a selected stack of do-overs, I try to convince listeners that getting the idea is the easy part and turning it into an engaging tale is the hard part,” she said. “With time for questions and answers, I direct the discussion toward the conclusion that the creative process is accessible to all and applicable to many activities.”

Another quality Bloom tries to get in her books is for the children to respect the diversity of the population in their community. “When children see themselves in the books they read, it validates their place in literature,” she said. “Sharing that place with other characters whose age, ability, race, shape or culture is different provides a blueprint for the future.”

As the chosen PA ONE author, Bloom traveled to numerous elementary schools in the state to which about 65,000 paperback copies of her winning work, “A Splendid Friend Indeed,” were previously sent. Funding for the program comes from the state library department and Verizon.

The winning book was published by Boyds Mill Press, the trade division of Highlights for Children with corporate offices in Honesdale. “Boyds Mill Press has published seven of my books,” she said.

Her books are also circulated nationally and can be purchased at any Barnes and Noble book store, she said.