News release from the author:
Critically acclaimed Fort Wayne author/illustrator publishes oil spill picture book
(April 6, 2011) – Two weeks before the first anniversary of the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon, the book ROSCOE AND THE PELICAN RESCUE will make its debut. Written and illustrated by the critically acclaimed Lynn Rowe Reed, the story features a young protagonist who anticipates a summer vacation with relatives on the gulf coast. After discovering globs of brown goo on the beacheas well as three soiled pelicansÂthe boy and his cousin, along with a golden retriever named Roscoe, become the birds’ rescuers. With help from the fisherman uncle and the aunt who works at a veterinarian¹s office, the gang strengthens, then cleans each pelican for an eventual return to cleaner waters.
This is Reed’s sixteenth picture book over a career that began over twenty years ago. Known for her whimsical style and humor, this is her first experience exploring a theme of such great social and timely importance. “My biggest challenge,” she explained, “was in telling such an emotionally compelling story without becoming sappy…and, of course, in convincing my publisher (Holiday House) to go out on a limb with me on this one.”
While the process of creating a picture book normally takes many months or even years to complete, Reed and her editor, Mary Cash of Holiday House (New York), felt strongly that this should be a book available to kids as soon as possible, and they succeeded in realizing their dream of having it published within a year of the explosion.
Lynn Rowe Reed has been prolific in the publishing world, as she is currently beginning work on her seventeenth picture book. However, she is best known for her work illustrating the phenomenally successful PUNCTUATION TAKES A VACATION.
Reed’s work has garnered many awards since the beginning of her career, and her work has appeared in shows such as The Best of Children’s Book Illustration at the Museum of American Illustration in New York City.
ROSCOE AND THE PELICAN RESCUE is be available in bookstores and through Amazon.com.
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