Island Birthday party

Thanks to the Friends of the Peaks Island Library, a swell party for Island Birthday took place on Friday at the Community Room, with the whole Peaks Island School in attendance. Woot!

I shared a slideshow with some of the back story. One sharp-eyed student noticed that I printed “island” and used cursive for “birthday” in the illustration for the title page. Yes, that’s a real stamp on the envelope, which I placed over my pastel.

I showed some of my reference photos, like this one in which my model, Nikolai, is pretending to swim in my yard.

And his friend, Calder, swam on the picnic table.

Here they swim in my pastel!

I read the book, and we can relate to this line: Well, I think people have to be crazy to live on an island.

My audience recognized the painter of the truck here, Peaks Island artist extraordinaire, Scott Kelley. The truck is a relic belonging to another Maine artist, Jay Sawyer. You can find it parked near his sculpture garden on Route 90 in Warren.

The big treat was birthday cake for all!

Kids lined up by grade, K – 5. Such patience!

After cake, every household received a book. Best signing ever, with each child licking icing from their lips while carefully spelling their names, their sibling’s names, their dog…

The 4/5 class prepares to leave, armed with a book, a red balloon, and…

a balsa airplane for letting their imaginations fly. Perfect for decorating later.

Thanks to Eva Murray, Tilbury House, and the Friends of the Peaks Island Library. It takes an island to get this story into the world.