Pout-Pout series author, illustrator visit Discovery Place KIDS
By Kevin Spradlin
PeeDeePost.com
ROCKINGHAM — More than three dozen children and parents enjoyed a visit by children’s author Deborah Dieson and illustrator Dan Hanna Thursday morning at Discovery Place KIDS in downtown Rockingham.
Dieson and Hanna led the engaged listeners through readings of two books, two songs and a how-to lesson on the drawing of fish.
Dieson read her book “The Pout-Pout Fish Goes to School,” her latest book published in June, and concluded “that school is a good place to learn.” The message went over well with the mostly preschool-aged audience.
The 30-minute presentation was made possible by The Country Bookshop in downtown Southern Pines. Director Katie Rohleder said the store owners there regularly work with the museum to bring children’s authors to Rockingham — and in this case, no cost to the museum. The bookstore often schedules visits from authors in a wide range of genres, Rohleder said, fit for all ages.
Dieson and Hanna led the children through one song in which they had to pout — stick out their bottom lip, cross their arms and stomp their feet.
Raise your hand, Hanna said, “if you’ve never pouted before.”
Not many raised their hands; not one.
After two readings and two songs, Hanna helped the children through the process of drawing a fish. Any kind of fish, he said, is a good fish.
“You can make anything a fish,” he said, drawing from a starting point of a square, a traced hand or even a single finger. All a well-drawn fish needs, Hanna said, is a top fin, a side fin, a tail fin, eyeballs and a mouth.
One child admitted he wasn’t very good at drawing. Don’t let that stop you, Hanna said.
“You don’t have to be good,” he said. “Just go with it.”
Discussion