April 25, 1998
Children's author visits area schools
By Cathy Willoughby
Staff Writer
''He's a great artist. I like his pictures, they are sort of weird or funny. I got Green Wilma because it seemed like a funny story. It's neat to get to meet him.'' Jennifer Maltsbarger, a fourth grader at Marseilles Elementary said.
Approximately 200 parents and children formed a line that wound through the McCutchenville Elementary School's gymnasium to get a chance to have children's author and illustrator, Tedd Arnold, sign a book or T-shirt. Arnold was appearing as part of the district's annual Young Author's conference.
The event began with Arnold's appearance and book signing, and continues today for young children who attend the elementaries in the Upper Sandusky, Carey and McCutchenville areas. This consists of a series of mini-workshops for students, some of whom had their own ''works'' on display at the gym.
Arnold's fingers were turning purple following the autographing session, but that did not seem to dampen his enthusiasm. It is obvious as he chats with the youngsters that he enjoys making school appearances. ''I spend 60 days a year on the road,'' he said,''The majority of the time doing school appearances and encouraging kids to read.''
He has been involved in almost 30 books, either as the writer, illustrator or both. ''There was actually one book that I wrote that I had another illustrator. It was for older children and was called 'The Simple People.' I prefer to do the illustrations for younger children's books.''
Before becoming a children's author in 1987, Arnold worked in advertising doing illustrations, but felt that his work was not totally satisfying. ''My wife was a kindergarten teacher, and I was fascinated by Carol's childrens books. I really wanted to just do the illustrations, but I didn't know how to break into the business that way. So I decided I would have to write my own story so that I could illustrate it. My intention was always to be the artist.'' Arnold explained.
He spent six years searching for an idea to become his first story. And it came to him from a familiar source, his oldest son. ''My first book was called 'No Jumping On The Bed' My son Walter was four years old, and we lived in an apartment building in Yonkers. One day the ceiling in Walter's bedroom caved in. We fixed it, and one night after that he was jumping on his bed. And I was joking with him, that he might go through the ceiling. He told me that was a good idea for a story, and I had been looking for ideas. I had my radar on and that's what got it going.'' he said.
His oldest son is now 16, his youngest son is 13, and is featured in the sequel, one of his newest books, 'No More Water in the Tub'. ''I generated that book because I had to have something for him. You always have to be fair.'' he said.
The Elmira, New York native writes about two books a year. Among his other children's books are the titles ''Ollie Forgot'', ''The Signmaker's Assistant'', ''Green Wilma'' and ''My Dog Never Says Please.''