Spud the Clown, will serve as reader for the March Stories in the Forest program at 3 on Saturday, March 5, at St. Bernards Fun Forest at The Mall at Turtle Creek.
Spud is a character clown portrayed by Ed Watson, account executive with KAIT-TV. He is well known to many children because he often volunteers at area events, entertaining youngsters and making balloon animals. Spud will read How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? by Jane Yolen and illustrated Mark Teague.
In this playful read-aloud book Yolen and Teague capture children’s fears about being sick … and put them to rest.
“What if a dinosaur catches the flu?
Does he whimper and whine between each ‘Atchoo?’
Does he drop dirty tissues all over the floor?
Does he fling his medicine out of the door?”
The author of this delightful book understands that going to the doctor can be pretty scary for a child. So she helps kids understand how little dinosaurs “get well soon.”
Yolen has written and edited more than 300 children’s books, but she also is a poet, a teacher of writing and literature and a reviewer of children’s literature and an author of a number of adult novels. Her books and stories have won the Caldecott Medal, Nebula Awards, Christopher Medals, the World Fantasy Award, the Jewish Book Award, the World Fantasy Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award and more.
Born in New York City and raised in California, Virginia and New York, she earned a bachelor’s degree from Smith College and a master’s degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She also teaches writers.
Teague has delighted young readers with more than 20 picture books (including many that he has written himself) in addition to collaborating with other writers and providing illustrations for their works.
The Stories in the Forest program gives parents some quality time with their children and exposes children to some favorite books of local residents. It is an outgrowth of the St. Bernards Women’s Advisory Council’s tremendously successful Kidz Fun Fair.
The Women’s Advisory Council is a group of about 120 area women who have joined together in an advisory role to give input on important healthcare issues impacting women and children. They encourage educational as well as service outreach efforts designed to make Jonesboro a better place to live, work and raise families.